


Loyalty

by Domsmelality



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Blackmail, Emotional Manipulation, Heartbreak, Hurt Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-02-22 23:56:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 41,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23769205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Domsmelality/pseuds/Domsmelality
Summary: Life can be unpredictable, and can knock you of course at any moment. Life can make you doubt everyone around you, including yourself.Chat Noir realises this when he learns the truth about his family, and is forced to decide where his loyalties lie.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 22
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

Chat Noir swooped down and grabbed Alya by the waist, pulling her away from the exploding car beside her.

"Hey! Watch it! I almost dropped my phone!"

"Yeah, and you almost lost your life too!" Chat Noir replied as he jumped on his baton towards the Seine, carrying her by the waist.

He landed, and let her go. He turned to run back to the fight, when she pulled on his tail.

"Not so fast. I think I deserve an interview for being such a good journalist, don't you think?"

"Sure, you're a great journalist, but that doesn't mean you can just ask for interviews all the time. And no paw-prints or autographs either. We have secrets, and they need to stay secret."

"Oh come on! I'm sure Ladybug would be thrilled to get an interview with such an awesome journalist! Oh, I know! How about, if you get me an interview with her today at noon, I will stop going in for the close up shots?"

Chat Noir raised his eyebrows, it would certainly help him and Ladybug if they didn't need to constantly make sure Alya was out of danger...

"Fine. Today, midday, me and Ladybug, where?" He folded his arm.

"Oh, yeah, you can come too. Um... do you know the park near the Dupain-Cheng bakery?"

Chat Noir nodded.

"Perfect! And you and Ladybug better be there, else I'm gonna be all up in your faces with my phone!" Alya yelled as she started running home, leaving Chat Noir speechless behind her. Chat Noir turned and ran back to the fight.

...

"Bye bye, little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug called, throwing the lucky charm in the air. Ladybugs flew around and reversed all the exploded vehicles caused by the villain.

"Wha- what am I doing here?" The akuma victim asked. Ladybug explained, and helped the young girl back on her feet. "Thanks, Ladybug!" She said, walking away.

Ladybug turned, seeing Chat Noir return. "Where were you? I needed you!"

"I was helping the ladyblogger to safety. We decided to have an interview, like you, her and meow. Today in the park, at midday."

"What? I never agreed to that!"

"I know, but if we go, she is going to stop getting so close to the fights, and then-"

"Then what? There are still other civilians we need to protect. Sure, one a bit further away will help though, I guess."

"Are you going to go?"

"I'll think about it." Ladybug said, zipping away on her yoyo.

...

Alya checked the skies, looking for any sign of red or black.

"So, what are you gonna ask them?" Nino asked. Alya sat down next to him on the bench.

"Anything, really. I know I can't ask stuff about their identities, but we can still learn about them as people."

"That's good, they're here now." Nino gestured to the middle of the park, where the superheroes had landed beside each other.

Alya and Nino watched as Chat Noir picked up Ladybug's hand and placed a kiss on it. Ladybug looked up at the journalist and walked forward.

Alya pressed the camera app on her phone and started recording.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir! Take a seat. I have told people on the Ladyblog about the interview, and many questions have been sent in. So lets start with-"

"Just to be clear, we will be answering no questions about our identities, or anything too personal." Ladybug said firmly, sitting down on the bench. Chat Noir sat down next to her, facing Alya and Nino.

"Yeah, yeah, of course." Alya said eagerly.

"The first question is, how did you know how to be a super hero when you first got your miraculous?"

Chat Noir and Ladybug glanced at each other, a silent conversation happening.

"Our wea _puns_. Look, if I open my baton like this, these instructions come up, telling meow what my power is, how to use it, and stuff like that." Chat Noir said, holding up his baton. Ladybug rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face.

"Cool. The next question is about your costumes. Like, do they just appear or do you need to hide somewhere and change into them?"

"Nope. There are these magic words that we say, then the suit just appears." Ladybug said.

"And those words are..." Alya urged her on.

"Not going to be told." Chat Noir finished. Alya sighed.

"Fine. This next question is about other heroes that you bring in sometimes. What's the deal with them?"

"Ladybug would call on her Lucky Charm, and it would be some object that..." Chat Noir started, looking to Ladybug for help.

"An object that reminds me of a personal object, like a one-of-a-kind thing that I have at... the place I keep the miracle box." Ladybug cast an unreadable glance at Chat Noir.

"Okay, but do you know the person you give the miraculous, personally? You are the guardian-thing of the miracle box, right?"

"No comment on the first question. But yes, I am the guardian of the miracle box."

"So what do you do as the guardian?" Nino asked.

"I guard the miracle box. I choose all the holders of the miraculous."

"What about Hawkmoth and Mayura? Do you know who they are?"

"Nope, but if we did, we would have gotten their miraculous already." Chat Noir said, leaning back on the bench.

"Do you know each other's identity?"

"No, and we do not plan on revealing ourselves until we defeat Hawkmoth and Mayura." Ladybug said.

"But you're the guardian! Shouldn't you know who Chat Noir is, Ladybug? He could be working for Hawkmoth!"

"I really doubt that, I trust him with my life." Ladybug said, avoiding Chat Noir's gaze.

"Aww, thanks! I trust you too, Bugaboo!" Chat Noir said, putting an arm around her shoulders. Ladybug picked up the arm and tossed it teasingly back to him.

"My lady, you wound me!" He said, placing a hand on his chest, and the other on his forehead.

"Oh, don't be such a drama-cat!" Ladybug teased.

"Do I sense some romance in the air here? Viewers, I think there may be a new crime-fighting couple here in Paris!" Alya said in front of the phone Nino was holding up.

"Yes!" Chat Noir said.

"No!" Ladybug cried standing up. "No, no, no! Do not start that again! I am not in love with Chat Noir, and I never will be! Ever! Do you hear that, viewers? We are a team, but will never, ever be a couple!"

"And where is your proof, Ladybug? You will need proof to back up your point!" Alya grinned. Ladybug bit her lip. "Exactly! You have no proof that you won't be a couple!"

"Oh, I have proof! Chat Noir asked Bunnyx a while ago, she's from years into the future, and she said no!"

"What about after? As in after you defeat Hawkmoth? You might reveal yourselves and fall deeply in love!" Nino replied, backing up Alya.

A crowd had started to gather around them, and it was growing every second as people took their phones out and started filming. Nino pointed the camera directly at Ladybug, who had started to speak again.

"I will never love him! Ever! He's super annoying! He just leaves me randomly to go and talk to civilians like earlier today! Those dumb puns and jokes in the middle of battles! The flirting that just gets in the way of everything! The nicknames are so annoying! It's sometimes as if he is just trying to distract me from my job! As if Chat Noir were the bad guy and I was the hero, because that is basically what it is like having him! He gets caught and controlled by the villain half the time anyway, so I need to fight him too! The self-sacrificing! I can protect myself! Honestly, I would be so much better of without him! Why don't you just go and join Hawkmoth and Mayura, Chat Noir? My life would be so much easier! You are useless! The flirting, puns, jokes, everything! Why would anyone love you? Why would I love you? We will never love each other!" Ladybug yelled into the camera.

"But I love you..." Chat Noir said quietly. There was a moment of silence as all eyes and cameras diverted to him. He felt tears starting to prick in his eyes as Ladybug turned.

He met her eyes.

"So?" Ladybug snapped, suddenly shocked by everything she had just said and her response to him.

Chat Noir's bottom lip quivered as a tear slowly made its way out of his eye, down his cheek, then splashing onto the grass below. The tiny sound echoed around the silent park, everyone watching him. He slowly backed away towards the railing behind him as the confidence flooded out of him.

Chat Noir turned and leapt away on his baton, heading to the Agreste mansion.

...

"Ah, what is this? A broken-hearted hero destroyed by the one he loves the most. He will be the perfect vessel for my akuma. Go, akuma, and corrupt this broken soul." Hawkmoth said, spinning his staff.

The akuma fluttered out of the window, following the crying cat to wherever he was going. The akuma flew around the building and into Adrien's bedroom. The akuma landed on the bell and got absorbed into the metal. 

"Chat Blanc, I am Hawkmoth. I give you the power to-" Hawkmoth started looking into the green eyes of Chat Noir.

"No! Get out of my head, Hawkmoth, go away!" Chat Noir screamed, clutching his head and closing his eyes tightly. Hawkmoth listened. He had heard Chat Noir through the miraculous, but also through the walls of the builing... 

Hawkmoth ran into the secret elevator and got transported into his office. The screaming was even louder here. He looked up and saw Nathalie leave the room. He followed and headed up the step, opening to door to Adrien's bedroom, and saw Chat Noir on his knees, screaming at him. Hawkmoth pulled Nathalie out of the room and shut the door. He released the akuma, and heard Chat Noir panting, then detransform after a few minutes.

"Go in, and lock the windows." He said to Nathalie. "Act like you heard something but don't know what." Then he slipped out of sight, and into one of shadows of the mansion, going onto the Ladyblog.

...

"Plagg, claws in." Chat Noir said, when he had gotten his breath back.

Plagg flew away, hearing someone knock on the door, then open it. Nathalie came in, a concerned expression plastered on her face. 

"Adrien, are you okay? What happened?" She rushed over, helping Adrien onto his feet.

"I was, uh, playing a videogame and, um, a fly came in and scared me and, I-I stood up on the sofa and, uh, fell off it." Adrien said, begging the tears not to return.

"Okay, how about I close the window then? That way, no more flies will be able to scare you." Nathalie said, going up to the window to lock it.

"No, no, its fine, um, I just overreacted. I, uh, need fresh air!" He ran up to her. The open window was like his only chance to freedom, he couldn't bare to lose that too.

Nathalie shut the window, and twisted the lock.

"It's getting colder, Adrien, you shouldn't have the window open any more." Nathalie confirmed. Adrien swallowed and nodded his head, walking over to the sofa. Nathalie's eyes flickered to the silver ring on his finger.

"Thank you, Nathalie." Adrien said, picking up the remote and sitting down. Nathalie nodded and left the room.

...

Gabriel looked outside, at the stars in the sky. They were like a family, all bright and close and connected. Gabriel's fingers wandered to the butterfly miraculous. One day, with the help of the wish, he would return his family to the way it used to be. 

He walked out of his office and up the stairs.  
"Nooroo, check if he is asleep."

Nooroo flew into the dark bedroom and saw Adrien asleep on the bed. Nooroo's eyes widened as he saw the black cat kwami asleep on the pillow too. Nooroo gasped, and Plagg opened his eyes, seeing Nooroo.

"Adrien, wake up!" Plagg whispered, pawing at Adrien's face. His eyes opened slowly, looking at Plagg as he whispered something in his ear. Nooroo, in a panic, flew out of the room and back to Gabriel.

"Well? Is he asleep?"

"Yes, master."

"Good." Gabriel quietly opened the door, and heard a shuffle. He walked inside the room, and turned to his left to see Adrien. "You said he was asleep Nooroo!"

"He was, mas-!" Nooroo said, whizzing into the butterfly miraculous. Hawkmoth stood tall.

"Father? You- you are Hawkmoth? How could you?" Adrien asked, shocked. 

Hawkmoth wasted no time talking. With one hand, he choked Adrien, and with the other he plucked the silver ring off his finger, and watched as it turned back, with the green paw print on the surface.

"No, Father, please, give it back!" Adrien cried, grasping to get the ring back. Hawkmoth released Adrien, clutching the Cat miraculous in a tight fist.

"You will get the miraculous back, as soon as you decide where your loyalties lie." Hawkmoth said, pulling Adrien forward by the arm, and pulling him into the hallway. He pulled Adrien down the stairs and into his office.

"What do you mean?"

"You must decide, right now, if you are loyal to your family, or Ladybug, the one who broke your heart."

"But- I- what? You- why?" Adrien stuttered, tears threatening to spill.

"Let me show you." Hawkmoth said as he shoved Adrien into the secret elevator, and then followed. The elevator lowered them to beneath the mansion, to a long room full of flowers. The door opened. Hawkmoth pulled Adrien forward, onto the metal flooring.

Adrien forced himself to keep up with Hawkmoth. He shivered as the cold air hit his skin and the icy metal dug into his bare feet. He looked around, seeing a large set of bushed and butterflies ahead of him.

"This, Adrien, is why." Hawkmoth said, gesturing to the transparent cylinder. 

Adrien gasped and saw his mother lying within. 

"Is she- d-d-?" He couldn't bring himself to say the horrible word.

"It does not matter if she is alive. The only thing that matters is that we can save her, with the miraculous wish." Hawkmoth said. "Do you want to bring her back?"

"I- but- yes?"

"What type of answer is that, boy?" Hawkmoth banged his staff on the ground.

"I do want to bring her back, but then there would be a price to pay and then-"

"The price does not matter! We can bring her back! That is all that matters!" Hawkmoth yelled, his anger growing by the minute.

"Yes, Father-"

"Hawkmoth. I am Hawkmoth."

"Yes, Hawkmoth."

"Do you want to bring your mother back?"

"Yes, Hawkmoth." Adrien shivered, terrified of upsetting his father again.

"So, your loyalties remain with your family? And not with Ladybug?"

"No, I can't ju-"

"You will no as I say! You are a disgrace. You will never get your miraculous back, you will be stuck here to rot for the rest of your worthless life." Hawkmoth said, walking away towards the elevator.

"No, please, Fa- Hawkmoth! My-" Adrien wiped some of the tears away and took a deep breath. He should lie, then betray Hawkmoth. He would tell Ladybug Hawkmoth's identity and then- no, she hated him, she told him she would be better off without him, she said he should just go and join Hawmoth...

"Continue." Hawkmoth said firmly. Adrien opened and closed his mouth, having no idea what to say. 

"You need extra convincing? Do you remember what Ladybug said earlier, how she feels about you? Are we really the villains here? For trying to unite family? She said you should join me anyway, together, we can beat her, and bring back your mother, how would you like that?" Hawkmoth said with a much softer tone, but it was firm nevertheless.

"My- my loyalties remain with my family."

"And?"

"And- n-not with Ladybug." Just saying her name brought another stream of tears out of his eyes. 

A slap echoed around the dark room.

"Don't you ever, ever cry again. Crying is for weaklings, I am not weak. Don't you be." Hawkmoth looked at Adrien with a disgusted face. Adrien nodded, hiding his tearstained face in the shadows.

"Follow me." Hawkmoth led him back to his room. Adrien sat down on his bed.

"Please can I have the miraculous back?" Adrien asked. 

Hawkmoth tossed the ring at him.

"Thank you, Hawkmoth." Adrien said, slipping the ring back on his finger. Plagg flew out and sat on Adrien's shoulder.

"Just remember, no one trusts Chat Noir. You know what Ladybug thinks of you, you know what Paris thinks of you now. There is no escape through Chat Noir. There is also no escape through Adrien. Everyone knows your face and your name and what you look like. Nathalie is constantly watching you, and will easily be able to attack if you do something you will regret. She is Mayura, and she will easily be able to overpower you just as I did earlier. There is no escape."

Adrien nodded.

"You are not allowed to transform unless completely necessary, you are aiding an akuma or amok, or either me or Nathalie has told you to do so. Do you understand?"

Adrien nodded.

"Goodnight, Adrien." Hawkmoth walked out, closing the door as he left.

Adrien stared at the door, still trying to process what happened. Plagg flew up and gently lay Adrien on the bed, softly wiping the tears away. He landed on the pillow and nuzzled Adrien's head. 

Plagg looked into Adrien's eyes, seeing the fear root itself deep in Adrien's broken heart.


	2. Chapter 2

"Your father would like to speak with you."

"I'll be right there." 

Adrien stood up and walked out of the room, followed by Plagg. He walked down the stairs, cringing at how his footsteps sounded so cold. He walked to the door and knocked three times on the door. "Come in." Adrien opened the door and walked in, seeing Gabriel looking at his computer, typing. Adrien looked behind Gabriel, and felt an odd mixture of emotions cling to him as the portrait of Emilie looked off into the distance. Gabriel looked up. 

"I plan on akumatising someone new today. You will stay hidden until the end of the fight. If the akuma wins, you will bring the miraculous here, to me. If Ladybug wins, you will attack her by surprise. She would have used her Lucky Charm, so would only have a few minutes left before she detransforms. You will get her miraculous. Am I clear?" 

"Yes, Fa- Hawkmo-" 

"When I am detransformed, you will call me 'Father', as you had before. When I am transformed, then you call me 'Hawkmoth'. You may leave, Adrien, but I wish to speak to your kwami. Nathalie, you may escort Adrien back to his room." Gabriel said, watching the black kwami slip out of Adrien's shirt. 

Nathalie opened the door and followed Adrien back to his room. 

"Hello, Plack." Gabriel said. 

"Ugh, it's Plagg, not Plack. Anyway, I don't think tha-" 

"It does not matter what you think. From now on, you will call me master, as Nooroo does. I do not want you to leave this building unless you are with Adrien, me or Nathalie. Is that clear." 

"Clear as cheese." 

Gabriel clenched his jaw. "Good. Now, I have some que-" 

"Ha! Cheese isn't clear!" 

"No, but your lack of cheese soon will be clear."

"That sentence is a load of waffle, but there is no way anyone would even _dare_ taking away my cheese." Plagg said threateningly.

"We'll see. Anyway, I understand that the Black Cat and Ladybug miraculous are linked. Explain."

"They balance each other out. Creation and destruction. Good luck and bad luck. They were not supposed to be used against each other-"

"That is exactly what Nooroo said. But, I am your master, so you will do as I say. Continue."

"Where is No-"

"Continue." Gabiel said firmly.

"Where is Nooroo?" Plagg asked, even firmer. "What did you do to him?"

"I have done nothing to him. Nooroo, come out." Gabriel said, looking beneath the table. Nooroo flew out, and hovered beside Gabriel, looking at Plagg. 

"Nooroo..." Plagg muttered.

"Nooroo is not able to fly more than a few feet away from me. I can do the same to you, if you like."

"Ugh, being stuck with you for more than two minutes? That's torture!"

"It is not once you get used to it. And I did not mean me. I meant that I can do a spell that makes you unable to go more than a few feet away from the miraculous holder, who is currrently Adrien. If you would like me to be the miraculous holder instead of him, I would be more than happy."

"Yeah, no thanks. And about Adrien. The way you treat his is terrib-"

"You are not his father. You are not in charge of him; I am. He is in charge of you, therefore making me in charge of you too. I would like to tell you that you are no longer allowed to speak to me in such a manner."

"What are you gonna do? Punish me?" Plagg laughed, knowing he could just fly out of Gabriel's grip.

"No, but I will not hesitate to punish Adrien for your misbehaviour."

Plagg narrowed his eyes.

...

Adrien sat on his bed, trying to think through all the stuff that had happened in the past few hours. His heart sped up and his eyes started to water as he remembered seeing his mother, just lying there looking completely lifeless. Adrien lay down as his mind flashed back to all the memories he had of her, and how much he had missed her. But, unlike his father, Adien had seemed to accept that she wouldn't be coming back. Similar to how he had previously accepted that Chat Noir and Ladybug would be a team, forever. He remembered what they had said just before fighting Miracle Queen, when they were in the water.

_"Thanks, Chat, you're always here for me." Then she had hugged him_

_"Always, Ladybug." He had said back to her._

_Then Ladybug had come up with the plan, as she always did. She transformed into Dragon Bug. They had leapt out of the water, side by side._

_"Ladybug!" Miracle Queen had yelled._

_"It'll be Dragon Bug to you, Chloe." Ladybug had said back._

_"A few extra powers aren't going to save you, you know. In a few moments, when the old guardian is too weak and his shield is broken, I'll force him to tell me you're secret identities. And it will be all thanks to Ladybug. She led you all to your own doom!" Hawkmoth had said._

_"He is trying to divide you, don't listen to him! I chose you both for a reason! Stay united!" Master Fu had said._

_"It's us against the world." Chat Noir had said._

_"As always." Ladybug had said back to him._

_"Ladybug and I never fight each other, we fight together." Chat Noir had said to Hawkmoth._

Adrien sniffed and buried his face in the pillows, feeling them soak away the tears. He remembered how insistent they were on being a team, and fighting along side each other. How they had been willing to fight the world, with just each other by their sides.

He remembered how, later that day after defeating Miracle Queen, he had failed Ladybug, again, and hadn't been able to catch Hawkmoth and Mayura when they flew away. He remembered how he was constantly failing Ladybug, how he was basically fighting her half the time anyway, being captured or controlled by the villain. 

He had failed being a hero, so maybe he should try being a villain?

What?

...

Marinette fell onto her bed and buried her face in her hands.

"I still feel terrible, Tikki! Those horrible things I said to him! His face when I snapped at him was just- ugh! How could I be so cruel?"

"I know you feel terrible, but you need to apologise to him. Maybe try calling him, just to talk things through, make sure he is okay..."

"How could he possibly be 'okay' after that? I literally destroyed him! He probably hates me!"

"He won't I'm sure. You have done... similar... things before, he-"

"Exactly! This would probably be the final straw before he quits! I can't do this without him!"

"Nor are you going to. He is still going be on our side after all. There's no way he would think about joining Hawkmoth. And even if he were thinking anything extreme, Plagg would come here and talk to us, to help us comfort him if he did take this a bit too, uh, seriously..."

"Of course he is going to take it seriously! Every time he checks the news, he's going to be reminded of how horrible I was to him! He is going to be crushed the next time we see each other!"

"He may be, but you're a good person. You'll be able to comfort him, and properly be there for him, if he's still upset."

"Of course he's still upset, I publicly humiliated him and broke his heart too, it's not like he's just going to forget." Marinette mumbled into the pillows.

"Well, no, he's not. But that doesn't mean you can just lie here when the opportunity to apologise and help him comes. Look, the next time you see him, apologise. Show him he is important to you, and to all of Paris. Okay?" Tikki saw Marinette nod.

Tikki frowned and flew over to the window, as something caught her eye. It was purple and black and looked awfully similar to... an akuma!

Tikki panicked and called Marinette over. She grunted and stood up, walking to the window.

"There was an akuma, I saw it." Tikki said.

"What, like, an akuma, or an akumatised person?" Marinette stood upright and began to climb the ladder onto her balcony.

"Akuma. It was flying towards the Eiffel Tower."

"Okay. Tikki, Spots On!" Ladybug appeared and took her yoyo off her waist. She threw it forward and flew in the direction of the Eiffel Tower.

...

"Remain hidden, until Ladybug defeats the akuma. _Then_ you attack her. Got it?" Hawkmoth said, looking at Chat Noir.

"Yes, but, why aren't you and Mayura going out? Why just me?" Chat Noir asked, subconsciously fiddling with the ring, completely terrified of seeing Ladybug again.

"We... require more protection than you." Hawkmoth lied. "Do not question my judgement again. I am in charge here."

Chat Noir nodded and looked at his feet. He listened as Hawkmoth spoke to the akuma victim through the mask.

"Hello, Mirror. You have been mocked about you're appearance, so I give you the power to take on the form of anyone you want. In return, you will give me Ladybug's miraculous."

Hawmoth saw the akuma's face scrunch in confusion.

"Not Chat Noir's miraculous?"

"No. He works for me, so I technically already have his miraculous."

"In that case, he will be the first form I take on." The akuma nodded, and black and purple bubbles swirled around his body. When he stood up, a blond in a black suit with black cat ears and a bell stood in his place.

...

As Ladybug got closer to the Eiffel Tower, she slowed, looking around, for either the akuma or Chat Noir. She saw a black figure and a glint of gold standing on one of the bars on the Eiffel Tower, so she swung over to him. She landed on the same bar, and walked over to him. He was sitting casually on the edge of the bar, his legs over the edge. But, he was quiet, far to quiet. He was looking down at his hands, which were fiddling with his baton.

"Chat Noir! I am so, so, so sorry about what I said at the interview. I really didn't mean any of it at all." Ladybug said, crouching down next to him. She decided to fight the akuma when it came to them, rather than searching for it. Paris looked very peaceful right now, and Ladybug didn't want to ruin the moment.

She sat down next to him and glanced at his face. Instead of sad, or just in thought, like she had expected, he was smiling. It was the type of smile you would make when someone unknowingly falls into your trap.

Chat Noir lunged at Ladybug, almost pushing her off the edge of the bar. She rolled to safety, and took her yoyo of her waist. She swung it at Chat Noir, who dodged it and swiped at her legs. She jumped over him and wrapped the yoyo around his arms. He struggled to get his arms free, but couldn't, so he kicked at her instead. He missed and fell off the edge of the bar.

If it weren't for the yoyo wrapped around him, he would have fallen and hit the ground. Ladybug got on her knees and peered over the edge, seeing Chat Noir's body bubble for a moment. When the bubbling disappeared, she realised she was looking at Hawkmoth.

"Chat Noir? What happened?" Ladybug said as she stepped back in disbelief.

"Ha! You still think I'm Chat Noir! No, I'm Mirror, but I'm speaking to you on behalf of Hawkmoth. He wants yo-"

"Our miraculouses, how original for him."

"Our miraculouses? What do you mean, Ladybug? He's already got Chat Noir's miraculous!"

"What?" Ladybug gasped, and released the yoyo by mistake. Mirror, as Hawkmoth, twisted his body mid-fall, so he landed on the bar beneath Ladybug. Ladybug jumped down at looked at Mirror, who now shared the same appearance as her.

"I can see why you're called Mirror, now." Ladybug said, not liking how quiet everything was without Chat Noir.

Mirror smirked and pulled the yoyo of his waist. He started swinging it, trying to use it as a shield, but clearly wasn't very good at it, as it smashed into is face.

"Chat Noir, when he was Mister Bug, made that same mista-"

"Oh, how you're going to miss those precious moments you two shared together!" Mirror said, interrupting Ladybug. Ladybug frowned, wondering is Hawkmoth really had taken Chat Noir's miraculous. She opened her yoyo and quickly tapped on the tracking feature, seeing the green paw print almost right on top of the ladybug symbol. She looked around, seeing a glimpse of black above her.

She threw her yoyo around Mirror, who was muttering something to Hawkmoth, Ladybug could see the purple mask hovering above Mirror's face. Ladybug looked at Mirror, looking for anything that didn't fit the appearance, as that was where the akuma would be. She noticed a small nose piercing on Mirror's left nostril.

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug called. A large mirror dropped into her arms. Ladybug looked around, wondering what to do. She looked back up, hoping to see Chat Noir, but the black was gone.

Ladybug bit her lip as she realised what to do. Mirror had finished talking to Hawkmoth, and was now running at her. Ladybug jumped over him and tied her yoyo around the mirror. She threw the mirror above the bar above her, and watched it slide of the edge, held up by the yoyo. It created a sort of pulley system. Ladybug loosened her grip slightly, and the mirror lowered to her height.

She ran towards the mirror, hearing Mirror following her. She jumped over the mirror, still holding onto the yoyo. Mirror had not seen the mirror, so smashed into it. He stumbled, and brushed the shards off his body.

Ladybug leapt at him while he was distracted, and crushed the nose piercing with her fingers. The akuma flew out.

"Time to de-evilise!" She said as she de-evilised the akuma. "Bye, bye, little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!" She threw one of the glass shards into the air, then the entire mirror evaporated into ladybugs, and reversed the damage caused by the akuma. Black and purple bubbles engulfed Mirror for a moment, then revealed a young boy with a scar across his cheek. Ladybug picked him up.

"Ladybug? What happened? Where am I?" He said.

"You were akumatised by Hawkmoth. I think I may know why. Is anyone ever mean to you?"

The boy shook his head and looked away, a clear sign of a lie. Ladybug gently turned his face towards her.

"Some people are mean, aren't they?"

The young boy nodded, still not meeting Ladybug's eyes.

"You know, it doesn't matter what people look like, it only matters how they treat others. Do you treat others nicely?"

The little boy nodded, honestly.

"Then you're an amazing person. Handsome, too!" Ladybug tapped on his nose with her finger. The boy giggled. "What's your name?"

He thought for a moment. His expression was serious. "CakeLord."

"Well, CakeLord, lord over the cakes for me, okay?"

He giggled, nodded, and waved to the people on the ground as Ladybug lowered him. She put him down on the floor and a woman with a strong resemblance to him ran over and picked him up, cuddling him. Ladybug nodded to her and zipped onto the Eiffel Tower again, hoping to talk to Chat Noir for a moment.

She stood on the platform and looked around, feeling a hand grab her shoulder. She turned around and hugged him. She could hear his heart beating very fast, and she frowned, realising he was probably scared of talking to her. She pulled away when he meekly pushed her away.

"Chat Noir! Are you okay? You still have your miraculous... I am so sorry, I didn't mean a single word I said at the interview, I was just a bit angry, but that was no excuse for anything I said. You are such a great partner, and I wouldn't be able to defeat the villains without you, and especially not Mayura and Hawkmoth, you are the best person in my life and I can't thank you enough for all the times you've risked your life to save mine! You're the perfect partner, and I need you!" Ladybug burst.

Ladybug looked at his eyes, that looked shinier than usual. He was shaking his head.

"Please, Chat Noir, say something." her earrings buzzed. 3 minutes left. He took a deep breath.

"I did w-what you s-said."

Ladybug frowned. What was he talking about? Ladybug remember what she had told him yesterday.

_Why don't you just go and join Hawkmoth and Mayura, Chat Noir?_

Ladybug gasped.

"No, no, you couldn't have joined then..."

"I- did- they- we-it's not-" He started, his voice raw and his mind unable to find the words. "I- sorry-" Chat Noir turned and ran away, remembering what his Fa- Hawkmoth told him yesterday. Not to cry.

_"Don't you ever, ever cry again. Crying is for weaklings, I am not weak. Don't you be."_

He sniffed and jumped off the tower, vaulting away with his baton. Ladybug ran after him. 

When he landed on a roof, Ladybug's yoyo wrapped around him and tied his arms to his sides.

"Please, just let me go!" He cried, feeling his cheeks go wet. He struggled against the tight strings, seeing Ladybug crouch down next to him. She wiped the tears from his face, and loosened the yoyo. Her earrings beeped, two spots left. She bit her lip.

Ladybug looked around, then bent down close. 

"Midnight, Eiffel Tower." She whispered. 

Then she loosened the yoyo completely and threw it towards the bakery. She flew after it, leaving Chat Noir lying on the roof. He picked up his baton, and vaulted to the Agreste Mansion.


	3. Chapter 3

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to help him. Maybe Hawkmoth was blackmailing him or something. Chat Noir didn't look like he wanted to fight me. I can't give up on him."

"No, do not give up on him." Tikki said, thinking about Adrien, who she knew was Chat Noir.

Marinette looked out the window, seeing rain splatter on the window. She picked up her phone and looked at what the weather would be like at midnight.

"There's going to be a thunder storm, do you think he's even going to show up?"

"Hopefully." Tikki thought for a moment. "You know when you were on the Eiffel Tower, you could locate him with the tracking feature, right?"

"Yes, why? Could I track where he has been... to work out his identity! Yes, Tikki! That's brilliant!"

"No, no! He may want to stay on our team. Try to keep his identity unknown for as long as possible."

Marinette bit her lip and nodded slowly, seeing the sky darken outside.

...

"Look! Her miraculous was right there! Why didn't you grab it?" Gabriel said harshly to Adrien, pointing to the end of the video, when Ladybug had just tied him up in her yoyo.

"I- she- was-"

"And here! Her time was running out, so she was running away, you could have easily chased her and taken her miraculous! But no, Chat Noir started crying! What did I tell you about crying? And why did you run away here? You had her miraculous right there, why would you do that?"

"She- had- yoyo-"

"What is this stuttering? Where has your confidence gone, Adrien?" Gabriel said, his voice softening manipulatively.

Adrien sniffed quietly.

"It's been destroyed, by you! Who do you thi-" Plagg cried, his voice full of anger and disgust

"I think I am the person who has the right to control his son, and his kwami too. I have warned you before, kwami. Adrien, you no longer are allowed to use electronics in your room tonight. If this means you get cold at night, so be it. No computer, no television, no music, no electricity for lighting either."

"No, Father, please..." Adrien begged.

"Silence. I will not be spoken to in such a rude manner. Perhaps you can use your time to teach your kwami how things happen under my roof." Gabriel said, turning around to face the portrait of Emilie.

Nathalie, sensing Gabriel was done speaking to Adrien and Plagg, led them out of the office, and into Adrien's bedroom.

Adrien sat on his bed, and heard Nathalie closing the door with a click.

"Adrien, I am-"

"It's not your fault, Plagg." Adrien said looked out the window.

The sky was darkening, and the thunder cracked threateningly. He stood up and flicked the light switch, but nothing came on. Adrien went into his bathroom, and flushed the toilet and ran the tap, just to make sure they still worked. The lights in the bathroom did not. Adrien gulped, and looked up, seeing a window in the bathroom. He walked up to it and twisted the handle. The window opened.

"So, are you going to go to see Ladybug?" Plagg asked.

Adrien frowned and thought. If he went to see Ladybug, it would be like he was betraying his family, but staying with Hawkmoth and Mayura would be like betraying Ladybug, which he had already done.

"Who should I be with?" Adrien asked, looking helplessly up at Plagg.

"The Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses were not supposed to be used against each other. Ladybug wouldn't give up her miraculo-"

"That's what I've done. I've given up the miraculous, and failed everyone."

"Well, uh, no, you, um, this is your chance to change that. To be the hero I know you are."

"You think I'm a hero?"

"Yes. You've always been by Ladybug's side, why should that change now?"

"Because now Hawkmoth knows my identity, and I know he's my father!"

"Okay, I get that. But Ladybug would be willing to help. And knowing Hawkmoth's identity would... help."

"But, my mother. She-"

"I know this is hard, Adrien, but using the miraculous wish would have a price to pay, no matter how good the cause may seem. I'm sorry Adrien."

Adrien nodded, tears spilling down his cheeks.

"So, I should go to Ladybug, and tell her everything?"

"Is that what you want to do?"

Adrien wiped some of the tears away, and slowly nodded.

"Okay, we have a way to get outside. She said midnight, right?" Plagg asked.

"Yeah. What time is it now?"

"Um, let me go and check." Plagg said. Adrien nodded and walked out of the bathroom, and sat on his bed. Plagg glanced at him, frowned, and then flew through the walls.

Plagg looked into Gabriel's office, seeing Nooroo hovering behind Gabriel, while he worked on the computer. Nooroo looked up and saw Plagg, then flew towards him. He stopped when an invisible wall prevented him from going any closer.

"Plagg? What are you doing?" Nooroo whispered into Plagg's ear.

"I was, uh-" Plagg said, not sure whether Gabriel could hear.

"I know you cannot trust Master, but you can trust me. I will not tell him what we speak about. I am very sorry about what had happened, with Adrien and the identity reveal..."

"Don't worry about that. Are _you_ alright, Nooroo? You've been stuck with this guy for years."

"I have been able to deal with it, after getting used to the idea that he doesn't care about righteousness at all."

"Uh, good job... do you know what the time is? Adrien wants to know, and I don't think he wants to be alone right now."

Nooroo nodded knowingly, then jumped slightly as someone knocked on the door. Nathalie came in, followed by Duusu.

"Oh, hi Plagg! Ooo! Are we having a party in here? That's so fun!" Duusu said, spinning around and flying towards Plagg and Nooroo.

"Duusu! How are you!" Plagg said, delighted to see her, but also a bit annoyed at being caught.

"Plagg. I did not allow you to come in here or speak to Nooroo. I have warned you before, and expected you would learn your lesson after Adrien got punished, but clearly you have not. Nooroo, you should know better!"

"It's not Nooroo's fault! I made him!"

"In that case, Adrien no longer is allowed to have electricity in his room at all, not just for tonight. I will allow you to break the news to him." Gabriel said, turning around.

"You're a horrible father!" Plagg cried. Then he remembered why he had come down in the first place. "What's the time? At least allow your son to know what time it is!"

"It is not you're place to tell me what I am. And, if I recall correctly, you were the cause of the punishment. You may go, Plagg. Now." Gabriel said.

Plagg flew out of the room, furious, at both Gabriel, and himself. He flew into Adrien's room, and saw Adrien looking out of the window.

"I'm really sorry. Your father said you won't have electricity in your room for- uh- until further notice. And he didn't tell me the time."

Adrien sniffed and nodded.

"My phone still works, though. It's almost 8 'o' clock." Adrien said, proudly showing Plagg his phone. Plagg flew up to him and hugged Adrien's chest.

"So, you're going to see Ladybug?"

"Yeah, and I- um, do you think she will be able to help?"

"Yes. I'm proud of you, Adrien!"

Adrien hugged Plagg tighter, not wanting to let go.

...

Ladybug looked around the Eiffel Tower, and opened her yoyo. It was almost half an hour past midnight, and Ladybug was getting worried. Either Chat Noir wasn't coming, or he was late. Ladybug hoped he was just late, because if he wasn't coming, that would mean he was either being forced into fighting against her, or had actually changed sides. Ladybug really, really hoped not.

She took a deep breath and stood up, putting her yoyo on her waist. She walked around, squinting into the distance.

She breathed a sigh of relief, as a dark figure came vaulting towards her on a long pole.

…

"Sir, Adrien left his room through the bathroom window. He- he's running away!" Nathalie said.

"We'll follow him. He may have gone to Ladybug. " Gabriel said calmly. He had predicted this might happen.

The room erupted with blue and purple light as they transformed into Hawkmoth and Mayura.

"Where did he go?"

"He went in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. I'll be sure to lock that bathroom window soon." Mayura said.

They quietly ran by rooftops to the Eiffel Tower. They landed on one of the highest bars, and looked down. They had gotten there before Chat Noir, as they could see him approaching.

Just a few bars below them, was Ladybug. Hawkmoth and Mayura leaned forward, like a predator ready to pounce upon their prey.

…

Chat Noir landed on the Eiffel Tower and put is baton on his back. His heart was pounding heavily and he could barely breath with the mixture of emotions clouding his mind.

Ladybug turned and smiled to him.

"Chat! You made it!" She walked to him, watching him stumble backwards as she approached. She slowed, sensing she was making him nervous. She offered her hand.

Chat Noir looked down at her hand. He wanted to take it. He wanted to grab it and never let it go. His hand reached out slowly, and he noticed it was shaking an awful lot.

Ladybug brought her hand closer to his, and brought them together. She carefully entwined their fingers, her hand vibrating with how much he was shaking. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.

"Are you okay?" She whispered softly in his ear. She felt him wrap his arms around her and heard him sniff and press his forehead into her shoulder.

She hugged him tighter as she realised he was crying.

"I'm sor-ry..." He sobbed, breaking down in her arms.

"No. You have nothing to be sorry for. This is my fault, not yours's. Everything I said at the interview was wrong. You are an amazing hero, your jokes are brilliant and always brighten my day. The nicknames you have for me just show me how much I mean to you, and I should show you how much you mean to me way more often. You are the best partner I could ever have asked for and I'm so grateful to have you by my side!" Ladybug said.

Chat Noir sniffed again and hugged her closer. After a few comforting moments, he felt Ladybug pull away.

"Come here." Ladybug said softly, bringing Chat Noir to the edge of the bar, where they sat down. They felt the rain pick up again around them.

"What happened?" She asked softly, looking at his face.

"He- uh- Hawkmoth found- me, and- I- we- then, um..." Chat Noir stuttered, his mind going blank.

"You know what? That doesn't matter right now. But, _you_ do. How are you feeling?" Ladybug asked.

Chat Noir thought. How was he feeling? He was feeling... scared? Nervous? Angry? Confused? He didn't know. Everything that happened had just shocked him. He had no clue what he was supposed to do with his life now. He had always had such bright dreams involving him and Ladybug, but now they all seemed unrealistic. Distant. Impossible.

He flinched as the lightning struck somewhere, and a loud boom of thunder followed.

Suddenly, something smashed across Ladybug's face. She fell back, right into Mayura's waiting arms.

"Well done, Chat Noir! You followed the plan perfectly!" Hawkmoth said, lunging towards Ladybug's ears.

"Plan? You tricked me?" Ladybug asked. She brought her legs up and kicked Hawkmoth in the face. He fell back, and saw Ladybug wriggle out of Mayura's grip. He lunged at her again, and grabbed her left arm, pulling her onto her knees. Mayura pulled her right arms down too.

"No- no- I didn't..." He whispered. Ladybug heard him clearly though, and offered him a smile, which looked odd seeing as she was being held down.

"Here, Chat Noir! Take the earrings, now!" Hawkmoth yelled at him.

Chat Noir panicked again. He had no idea what to do. Should he take the earrings, and see his mother again, or should he be the hero Plagg and Ladybug thought he was? He made a quick decision, which he was sure he would be punished for later.

He took his baton and extended it into Hawkmoth's face. Hawkmoth grabbed the baton, letting go of Ladybug. She punched Mayura in the stomach, and stood up as Mayura rolled backwards.

Ladybug called on her Lucky Charm, hoping it would be able to help bring down Hawkmoth and Mayura once and for all. A bag of ice fell into her hands.

She looked up and saw Hawkmoth whacking Chat Noir's shin with his cane, so hard a crack came after. Chat Noir fell over and rolled, clutching his leg, his face scrunched in pain.

Ladybug ran after him and placed the bag of ice on his leg, and heard his gasp with relief.

Ladybug took her yoyo and wrapped it around Hawkmoth and Mayura. They wriggled, but couldn't get free. Ladybug dangled them off the Eiffel Tower.

"Chat Noir! Aren't you going to help us? Aren't you loyal to us, like you said?" Hawkmoth yelled.

"Chat Noir never said he was loyal to you, and I think he's proved who he's loyal to tonight!" Ladybug called, bending down to Chat Noir. She felt around his hurt leg, and it felt like it had broken from the hit, or at least been fractured.

She took Chat Noir's hand and took the bag of ice off his leg. She threw it in the air, saying 'Miraculous Ladybug', and saw the ladybugs wash over his leg. His face showed relief. He picked himself up.

"All better?" Ladybug asked.

Chat Noir nodded, and fell into her arms with a hug. "Thank you." he whispered.

Ladybug hugged him back, and heard her earrings beep. 3 minutes left. She climbed down the string of her yoyo, and onto Hawkmoth and Mayura.

"Come on, son! Help your family!" Hawkmoth said, pushing through the strings.

Ladybug gasped. "Family?" She loosened her grip on the string and fell.

Chat Noir caught her, and put her on the ground.

"Are you... related... to them?" She asked.

"Yes." He said after a few moments of thinking. But a few moments and some rain was all the villains needed to escape the strings of the yoyo.

Hawkmoth and Mayura climbed silently onto the Eiffel Tower, and cringed as the yoyo hit the ground. Chat Noir and Ladybug turned, then ran to pick up the yoyo.

"Come home, Chat Noir. You know you want to. Remember what we spoke about last night?" Hawkmoth called, disappearing.

Chat Noir did remember. Those words Hawkmoth said to him, telling him there would be no escape for him.

_"Just remember, no one trusts Chat Noir. You know what Ladybug thinks of you, you know what Paris thinks of you now. There is no escape through Chat Noir. There is also no escape through Adrien. Everyone knows your face and your name and what you look like. Nathalie is constantly watching you, and will easily be able to attack if you do something you will regret. She is Mayura, and she will easily be able to overpower you just as I did earlier. There is no escape."_

But, Ladybug trusted him, right? She valued him, as did Plagg. Sure, Mayura could overpower him, but could she overpower him and Ladybug together? Hopefully not. But as Adrien... everyone knew him, so unless he and Ladybug could take down Hawkmoth right now...

Chat Noir shook his head, his mind a jumbled mess of emotions.

...

"He's shaking his head, I don't think he's going to come."

"You seem to be forgetting that we did not give him a choice. He is coming with us, willingly, or unwillingly." Hawkmoth replied.

He climbed down and got as close to Chat Noir as he could. His foot splashed in a puddle, and Chat Noir turned around, meeting Hawkmoth's fist. Hawkmoth punched him right in the head, feeling him go limp.

"Chat Noir!" Ladybug called, taking her yoyo off her waist. 

Hawkmoth picked up Chat Noir.

Mayura jumped in between Hawkmoth and Ladybug.

"Follow us if you want, you're just going to run out of time, and get stuck in the rain." Mayura said.

Hawkmoth ran away, followed by Mayura. Ladybug stared helplessly after them, knowing she only had 2 minutes left.

She zipped away, her mind buzzing with ideas on everything she'd learnt.

...

"Tikki! What do we do?" Marinette said to Tikki, who was eating a marcaroon. "They're _family_! This is probably so confusing for Chat Noir!"

Tikki nodded. "I think I should talk to Plagg. He might have a better understanding of the stuff that's happened."

"Do you want to go now?"

Tikki shook her head. "I think we should let them rest for a bit, from what I've heard about Hawkmoth's identity-"

"Wait, you know who he is?" Marinette asked.

"I think so. But we shouldn't jump into anything. But if am an right, then Hawkmoth wouldn't be the most... forgiving... person. I think I'll go and talk to Plagg, and Chat Noir, if I can, tomorrow, when you're at school." Tikki said, hoping Adrien would be able to go to school.

...

"I hope you are proud of yourself, Adrien. You betrayed me, Nathalie, and even your mother. She would be ashamed of you. I even gave you a chance to redeem yourself, I said that the whole thing was a part of our plan. If you had just accepted that, your mother would probably be here right now. And she's not, because of you." Gabriel said, tossing a disgusted look at his son.

"I was- just-" Adrien started, before being interrupted.

"I have locked all the windows in Adrien's bedroom, sir. Including the one in his bathroom." Nathalie said, coming in. She had a key in her hand, and she put it on her desk.

"Good. You belong with your family, with your mother too. We can bring her back, don't you want that?" Gabriel said.

"I do, but then someone else is going to die in her place, probably." Adrien blurted out.

"Our family is more important. If someone else dies in her place, which will not happed, I would be willing to sacrifice-"

"Would you sacrifice yourself? Nathalie?" Adrien said, his confidence rising.

"I would be able to sacrifice _you_ Adrien, so you better be good from now on. You can go. Tomorrow, or rather, in a few hours, you will go to school, and act like everything's normal, because it is. Isn't it?" Gabriel said, bewildered he had just said he would be willing to sacrifice Adrien.

But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. If he were to wish one of the members of his family back, he would probably loose the other. Gabriel rolled the idea around in his mind. He turned around and looked at Emilie, remembering the promise he made to her.

Nathalie saw Gabriel was done with Adrien, so opened the door.

"Wait." Gabriel said. "Give me the ring."

"What? No!" Adrien said, his left hand wrapping around his right, attempting to protect the ring.

"I said," Gabriel walked swiftly until he was right in front of Adrien. He brought Adrien's chin up, and their eyes locked. " _Give me the ring_."

The four words rang through Adrien's mind repeating over and over again. He couldn't do that. The ring was his escape, his happiness, his life, it held so many comforting emotions, and Adrien didn't want to let go. He didn't want to let go of Plagg, of Ladybug, of the ring, of his friends, his freedom. Of the few things and people who gave his life meaning.

Adrien took a deep breath, and ran.

He made it out of the office, and opened the front door. His feet moved him swiftly down the steps, through the rain. He slipped up and fell onto the ground, but didn't give up. He picked himself up. He was almost at the gate.

"Claws Out!" He called, as he transformed into Chat Noir. He looked back, seeing Mayura walking calmly towards him out of the doorway. He saw a shadow jump above him.

The lightning flashed.

His heart was pounding so hard he barely heard the thunder.

He looked ahead of him.

He saw Hawkmoth.

He saw rain.

He saw tears.

He saw a cane.

He saw darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

Adrien woke up in bed with a bad headache. He opened his eyes and sat up, seeing he was in his bedroom. He looked at his right hand, and his heart dropped

His finger was bare, with no miraculous.

Adrien stood up and walked over to the door, and pulled on the handle, but the door was locked. He went back to his bed and sat down, placing his head in his hands.

He had failed. He had failed Ladybug, his father, Nathalie, his mother, and Plagg. Adrien felt empty without Plagg by his side, despite how he had spent most of his life without him.

"Adrien?"

Adrien looked up, hoping to see Plagg, but the voice was too high to be Plagg. Instead, Tikki hovered above his bed, looking worried.

"Tikki?"

"Hi, it's, um, good to see you again..." Tikki said, unsure of what to say. She decided to get straight to the point. "So, your father is Hawkmoth?"

"How did you know?"

"Yesterday, he mentioned you were family, and so I could work out that he was Hawkmoth. Is Nathalie Mayura?"

Adrien nodded, ashamed he was betraying his family, again.

"And what about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"How are you, Adrien? I doubt it was easy for you."

"I don't know." Adrien muttered.

"That's okay. Um, where is Plagg?" Tikki's eyes wandered to Adrien's hand, which had no ring.

"I think my father took the ring. He locked the door, too, so I can't get out."

"Locks are no problem!" Tikki said, trying to lighten the mood. She flew to the door, about to unlock it.

"Wait! What's going to happen now?"

"That depends... do you want to go to Ladybug? She could help."

"I- don't know." Adrien said, ashamed of himself once more. He buried his face in his hands, trying to hide from the shame. "I can't betray my family..."

"It's not about betraying people, Adrien, even if it is your family. Life is about fighting for what you believe in, even if you stand alone. And whatever you choose, make sure it is what you want, not what other people want you to do. You should do what you think it right, and don't let anyone stop you!"

Adrien looked up at her and nodded.

"I- I want to go to Ladybug." Adrien said, meeting her eyes.

Tikki smiled and nodded to him, proud.

"Okay. We'll need to get outside, and get the ring back. The window, is it locked?" Tikki asked.

"Yeah, but you can unlock it, right?" Adrien said. He stood up, and felt the confidence rise in him. Tikki nodded and flew over to the window.

Adrien heard it click as she flew into the lock and unlocked it. She came out and pushed open the window.

"How will we get the miraculous? We don't know where it is." Adrien said.

"If we're lucky, we'll be able to find it. How about you go into his office and look for the ring. If you find it, say something like 'can I have that ring on the table' loud so I can hear. Then I'll try and take it without being seen. Once I have got the miraculous-"

"I'll come up here again, transform, and you'll take me to Ladybug. Wait, no, she needs you to transform..."

"I'll take you somewhere safe." Tikki said.

"That would take a lot of time. How about I just go to somewhere like, uh, Le Grand Paris? Chloe could get me in, and wouldn't tell anyone." Adrien said.

"Chloe? I don't think she would be the most reliable person, especially how she now hates you and Ladybug."

"No, not as Chat Noir. As Adrien."

Tikki's eyes lit up as the plan came together.

"Just make sure you're not followed. And if you can't find the miraculous, do you know where it might be?"

"There is this secret compartment behind the portrait of- uh, behind the big picture in the room. It might be there." Adrien said. He didn't want to think about her, or about how upset she would be to know he was doing this.

"Okay. I'll be sure to check there. Now, let me unlock the door." Tikki said as she crossed the room and unlocked to door. It clicked, and Adrien opened it. "Act like your head's hurting. They'll be less likely to suspect anything."

Adrien nodded in reply, and walked out of the room. Tikki flew through the walls, towards the big picture Adrien was talking about.

Adrien went down the steps, and heard talking coming from his father's office. He stood in front of the door, and prepared himself. He knocked on the door, and heard someone say to come in.

"Adrien? How did you get out of your room?" Gabriel asked, on a video call with someone.

"I opened the door." Adrien said, rubbing his eyes as if he were tired.

Gabriel narrowed his eyed and looked back to the screen. He continued to speak to the person on the other end of the line, as if his son were not even there.

Adrien swallowed and looked around. He saw the cat miraculous on Gabriel's finger. Adrien took a deep breath.

"Father, why is my ring on your finger?" He said loudly.

Gabriel looked up, clearly angry at being disrupted.

"Sorry, excuse me for a moment." Gabriel said. Gabriel walked out of the room and told the Gorilla to come inside. He had been waiting on the sofa with earplugs in, and didn't notice Adrien had come down.

"Make sure Adrien does not cause anymore distractions. Take his to his room and make sure he stays there this time." Gabriel said.

The Gorilla nodded and picked Adrien up, carrying him to his room.

"No, Father! You have my ring on your hand!" Adrien yelled, in a desperate attempt to let Tikki know.

The Gorilla placed him inside his room and closed and locked the door. Adrien looked around for Tikki, worried she might not be able to get the miraculous.

Adrien walked to the open window and wondered what he should do.

"Go! Go to the place we agreed!" Tikki cried, the black cat miraculous in her hands.

She threw it to Adrien and flew out the window, going to get Ladybug.

Adrien caught it and put it on his finger.

"Plagg!" Adrien said.

"Yeah, great to see you too, kid. But we've got to go!" Plagg said.

Adrien could hear footsteps running up the stairs in the hallway, and he started to panic again.

"Come on, you can do this!" Plagg said encouragingly. Adrien nodded.

"Plagg, Claws Out!"

Chat Noir jumped on top of the window and pulled his baton forward. He jumped onto the next roof and ran to Le Grand Paris.

He spotted it a few streets away, and checked no one was following him. He landed and detransformed when no one was looking. He took out his phone and gasped as he saw the time. It was almost evening, meaning he had been unconscious in his bed for almost a whole day.

Adrien bit his lip and called Chloe.

"Adrikins! Hi! How ar-"

"Listen, Chloe. Can you get me a room in Le Grand Paris without anyone noticing? And I can't let my father know, so-"

"Of course I can! Where are you?"

"I'm near the entrance."

"What? I don't see- oh! There you are!" Chloe came out of Le Grand Paris, and waved dramatically at Adrien.

"No! Do not let anyone know I'm here!"

"What? Oh, you want our special time together to be a secret! Of course, Adrikins!" Chloe said, winking in his direction.

"No- I, uh, sure, yeah-"

"Told you! You can stay in the room next to mine, no one ever uses that room as only I get the top floor and the best rooms. Oh, we'll have so much fun watching all of Queen Bee's appearances!"

"Uh, yeah, sure. Can you get me in without anyone seeing?"

"Of course I can!" Chloe said. Adrien jumped, as the voice came from next to him, rather than from the phone.

"How did you get-"

"I'm Queen Bee, remember! Anyway, let me put this on." Chloe said, taking out a make-up thing.

"Uh, I don't think that will be necessary..."

"I'm the superhero here, not you, so let me do my job!" Chloe said, powdering Adrien's face. "There! Now, the wig..."

Chloe fixed a long white wig on Adrien's head, and tucked all the blond hair away. She smiled proudly at him, and he tried to do the same. From her bag, Chloe pulled out a thick purple coat, and a bright pink feathered scarf.

"I can't wear the feathers, Chloe."

"They're fake! I took your every need into account. Now, put this on." Chloe held out a long blue dress. Adrien slipped it on over his clothes, and then put on the coat and scarf.

Chloe nodded at him, then somehow took more things out of her bag. She put a multicoloured hat on Adrien's head.

"Chloe, I can barely see with this thing on."

"Yes, but, no one else will see your face. Actually, they can still see your mouth and chin. That's fine."

"But everyone's going to be looking at me! I thought the point was not to be seen!"

"No one's going to look at you if I tell them not to."

Adrien opened his mouth to say something, but then decided to just go with it. Chloe grabbed his hand and pulled him through the door.

"No! Wait!" Chloe cried. She took her bag and put it on Adrien's arm. "Perfect!"

"Yep, perfect."

Chloe nodded and pulled him towards the lifts. She pressed the button and the door opened. She and Adrien went in, and pressed the top floor number.

"So, why did you need to do this?"

"What? Oh, I, uh, forgot to, uh, do something."

"Really?" Chloe said sarcastically. Adrien looked at his feet, which he could barely see due to the dress. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Yeah, but I just wanted to get out of the house for a bit, you know."

Chloe raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. The lift stopped and the doors opened.

"Come on, this way." Chloe led him through the hallway to her room. She opened the door and let them both in, then shut it again.

"Thanks, Chloe!" Adrien said, throwing his arms around Chloe. He knew there was some good left in her, despite all the things she had done to prove otherwise.

"Oh, it's just my job as a superhero!" Chloe said.

Adrien pulled away. "Do you mind if I, uh, tidy myself up a bit?"

"Sure! I need to give Sabrina my homework to do anyway so-"

"School!" Adrien cried, having completely forgotten.

"It's the holidays, remember!"

"Uh, how long until we go back?"

"Ugh! I don't know! Don't make me think about that on my break!"

"Sorry, Chloe. I'm just going to stay here for a bit. Wait, are you going?"

"Yeah, like I just said. I have to give Sabrina my homework to do." Chloe said, opening the door. "Bye, Adrikins! And I never saw you here!" She winked at him dramatically again.

She left and shut the door. Adrien could hear her yelling at someone down the hallway. He walked into the bathroom and rinsed his face, trying to get off all the powder. The water washed it away. Adrien patted his face dry and left the bathroom, seeing Plagg looking outside.

"Are you looking for Ladybug?"

"I was looking for her, and checking Hawkmoth and Mayura aren't coming."

"Oh, yeah, them..." Adrien said, his mood dropping.

"But I'm sure they won't. They don't know you're here." Plagg looked out of the window again. "I see her. Hang on, let me just make sure it's her and not something else. I can barely see anything because the sun is looking right at me!"

The corners of Adrien's mouth perked upwards slightly. Plagg flew up to him and hugged his cheek. Adrien hugged him back, appreciating him fully.

Plagg then flew outside towards Ladybug, after waving to Adrien and giving him a hopeful smile.

"Hey! Ladybug!"

"What? Oh, Plagg! Hi! Wait, why are you here, is Chat Noir in danger?"

"Well, uh, yes, but he's sort of safe at the moment. I came out here to see if it was really you and- I should not have said that. Oh well. Can you go onto the balcony? I'll let Chat Noir know you're there so he can transform."

Ladybug nodded and zipped over and landed on the balcony, as Plagg slipped inside.

"Hey, kid, Ladybug's here."

"Did you tell her about what happened?"

"No, why? I can, if you want. I just thought it would be better if you told her yourself."

"No thanks. Is she on the balcony?"

"Yep. She'll come in when you're ready and transformed."

Adrien nodded. "Plagg, Claws Out!"

Chat Noir took a deep breath and walked over to the balcony door. He placed his shaking hand on the handle, and twisted.

"I can come in, right?"

"Yeah, you can."

Ladybug came into the room, saw Chat Noir, and threw her arms around him.

"I'm so glad to see you!" Ladybug said.

"Me too, Ladybug." Chat Noir melted in her arms.

Ladybug pulled away. "Do you want to say what happened?"

Chat Noir nodded slowly. "Hawkmoth found out my identity after trying to akumatise me-"

"He tried to akumatise you? Why? Oh, no, no, no! I'm so sorry! I was just a bit frustrated and took it out on you, but that's no excuse for what I-"

"It's fine. But, he- he knows my identity, and I know his. And Mayura's. And why they're doing- what they're doing."

Ladybug followed along. She decided not to ask him about if they were related, as it would probably hurt him too much.

"Are you feeling better now?" Ladybug looked at Chat Noir's face, trying to interpret his emotions.

"I think so." He said after a few moments.

"That's good. Are you going to sleep here tonight?"

"Yeah. I- uh, can you- um, stay, no, no. Never mind." Chat Noir looked at the floor.

Ladybug went through the words quickly in her mind, trying to see what he was asking.

"You want me to stay?" She asked.

Chat Noir froze. He was so, so stupid. Why would she stay? She'll say no. But, what if she says yes? She'll think he's scared of something. Ugh, why did he have to say that?

"I can, if you want." Ladybug lifted his chin and looked into his eyes. "We're a team, kitty. If you don't want to be alone, I would be more than happy to stay with you."

Chat Noir met her eyes and nodded.

"Then I'll be staying with you tonight!" Ladybug offered him a smile, which he returned. "I need to do something as my civilian self for a while, but I'll be back as soon as I can. See you soon, my kitty!" Ladybug walked towards the door, about to leave.

Chat Noir reached forward and grabbed her hand.

"L-Ladybug? I- uh, just- thank you."

Ladybug embraced him for a moment again. She pulled away, and waved as she opened the door.

"Au revoir, mon chaton!" Ladybug left the room and shut the door behind her.

She detransformed, and walked towards the lifts, and bumped into Chloe, who was wearing a long yellow coat.

"Ugh! Dupain-Cheng? What are you doing here?" Chloe glanced nervously at the door to the room Adrien was in.

"I was- looking for you."

"Why?"

"Because I- wanted to show you- my new bread, yeah. It looks like you-"

"Why does it look like me?"

"Because I made it look like you."

"Ew, you dare put my stunning face on _bread_? You disgust me! Go!"

Marinette ran quietly through the halls, catching her breath as she reached the lift. She pressed the button and went through the open doors. She pressed the bottom floor button and watched as the lift doors closed.

Tikki flew out of her purse.

"Really, Marinette? Bread with Chloe's face on it?"

"I didn't know what else to say! What else appeals to her other than herself?"

Tikki chuckled, then seemed to remember why they were in Le Grand Paris.

"Please do try and come back here as soon as possible, Marinette."

"Of course I will, I'm not just going to leave him alone at night, especially if he's scared of something. Ugh, why did I ask Alya to do this _today_?"

"It's more than that, Marinette. Hawkmoth and Mayura know Chat Noir knows who they are, so they are probably going to try and take him back, even if he doesn't want to go."

"And they're probably going to try to get him back at night, when he's probably asleep."

"Yes, and also, he may be a bit, um, nervous about going to sleep. The last time he was unconscious, Hawkmoth took his ring, and I don't think he wants that to happen again."

Marinette nodded.

"I can see why. I hope Chloe doesn't cause trouble with him, normally she's the only one on the top floor."

"I doubt she will."

...

"Can you track his phone?"

"I would normally be able to, but it's not working, probably because he's transformed. Wait, yes, here. It just appeared, he probably detransformed."

"Where is he?"

"He's at... Le Grand Paris. Yes. Miss Bourgeois probably let him in as Adrien. Shall I call her, to ask if she had seen him?"

"No. She may tell him we called, so he would leave, and he may not take his phone with him, so we would have no way to track him. If he knows we are onto him, he may call Ladybug, and she may get other heroes to help. We would be outnumbered. We should keep this as aa surprise attack."

Nathalie stood up. "Are we going now?"

"No. Let's wait until night. He will be most vulnerable then, and hopefully asleep too."

...

Marinette opened the door to the bakery.

"Marinette! Girl, were have you been?"

"I was- um, at school..."

"But it's the holidays."

"Uh, yeah! I forgot, so I came back."

"So, you're telling me, that you though there was school in the evening on a Sunday in the middle of the holidays? Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, you know me!" Marinette slipped behind the counter, and was about the go through the open door, when she bumped into the wall.

Marinette, Marinette, Marinette…" Alya laughed, shaking her head with pure disbelief.

"Alya! Stop dilly dallying! We have a hat to take photos of!"

"You were the one dilly dallying!" Alya said as she raced Marinette up the stairs.

Marinette and Alya went into the bedroom. Alya walked over to the mannequin and gestured to the hat on the head.

"Is this the marvellous hat I'll be modelling?"

"Yep! This bit here goes at the front. Just... like... this..." Marinette fixed the hat on Alya's head. "Now, come onto the balcony please. The lighting is just right, with the sun setting in the background."

Marinette led Alya onto the balcony, and positioned her so that the sun was behind Alya.

"Perfect! Now, look over here..." Marinette gestured to a spot behind her.

She took out her phone and went on the camera app. She angled her phone, and snapped a picture, as a few birds flew in the background.

"Did you get a good shot?" Alya asked, carefully taking the hat off her head.

"Better than that!" Marinette showed her the photo. The hat and setting sun complimented Alya's skin tone brilliantly, and made the hat shape form a silhouette against the light.

"Awesome! You need a picture of the hat itself now, right?"

Marinette nodded. Alya held the hat to the camera, and Marinette took pictures of it from several angles.

"And, done!" Marinette said.

"What did you say?" Alya said. She hadn't heard Marinette over the sound of pigeons flapping above.

"Quick, inside!" Alya pulled Marinette and the hat inside, and shut the trapdoor.

"Why? They were just birds."

"A whole lot of them! They could have pooped on the hat. And us!" Alya looked out the window. "The last time this many pigeons flew like this, was when Mr Pigeon was akumatised. So, that means- yes! Are we done?"

"Yep. You can go and film Ladybug and Chat Noir take down that pigeon overlord again." Marinette laughed.

"Thanks! I'm going to try and get a few questions in!" Alya called as she ran out of the bedroom.

"Marinette, this may be a distraction. Check on Chat Noir first." Tikki flew out of Marinette's purse. Marinette nodded.

"Tikki, Spots On!"

Ladybug climbed onto the balcony and zipped off towards Le Grand Paris. She stopped when she saw Chat Noir going in the same direction as the pigeons.

She sped up, as she saw a large flock of pigeons swarm around him and lift him into the air.

Ladybug threw her yoyo at the birds, but they dodged easily, and carried Chat Noir away.

Ladybug jumped across the rooftops, and slowed when the birds suddenly stopped, and flew to the ground. She hid behind a chimney and got ready to jump into action.

Most of the birds dispersed around Chat Noir, but a few stayed and flew around him. Chat Noir was helplessly sneezing as Mr Pigeon came forward and started to talk loudly to Chat Noir. He had a purple mask hovering above his face, so it was actually Hawkmoth talking to Chat Noir through Mr Pigeon.

Ladybug crouched down and crept closer.

"Chat Noir, why did you leave? We could have been a perfect family. We could bring her back with the miraculous wish, we would be whole again! Isn't that what you want?"

Mr Pigeon walked closer to Chat Noir, and grabbed his face.

"Hadn't you already said that you would be loyal to your family, and not to that- that _bug_?"

The pigeons around Chat Noir had left now, leaving just Mr Pigeon and Chat Noir alone.

"How _dare_ you betray your family like this?" Mr Pigeon tightened his grip around Chat Noir's face.

Chat Noir remembered what Tikki had told him earlier. About how he should stand for what _he_ thought was right. Chat Noir knew now who he was loyal to, but it still hurt. Chat Noir shut his eyes and fell onto his knees, feeling as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders, slowly crushing him.

Ladybug threw her yoyo at Mr Pigeon's head. He fell back and let go of Chat Noir's face.

Ladybug ran to Chat Noir and got onto her knees.

"Kitty?" Ladybug saw a small tear slip out of his eye. Ladybug gently wiped it away, then fell on top of him as a few pigeons lunged at her.

"Sorry." Ladybug said, as she picked herself up, and helped Chat Noir back onto his feet.

"I- sorry, Ladybug..." He started.

"Don't be sorry, you have nothing to be sorry for. Do you want to help defeat Mr Pigeon again?" Ladybug held out her hand to him.

Chat Noir took it, and gave her a nod. It was only a small nod, though, and Ladybug could see that the things Mr Pigeon had told him had hurt him a lot more than he was letting on.

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug threw her yoyo in the air with her other hand, and a large net fell into her hands. She looked around, working out what to do.

"Can I borrow your baton?"

Chat Noir took his baton off his back and passed it to Ladybug. She tied a bit of the net to the baton, and passed it back to Chat Noir. She softly separated their hands, and then looked around, trying to find a small pigeon that would fit in the net. She found one to her right.

"Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to direct one of the pigeons into the net, and you catch it. Then, activate your cataclysm, and hold it near the pigeon. I'm going to do the rest."

"Got it." Chat Noir said quietly to her.

Ladybug ran into the birds and chased a few of them around, waving her hands, directing them towards the net. The small pigeon she spotted earlier didn't look where he was going, and landed in the net Chat Noir was holding up.

"Cataclysm!" Chat Noir held his hand near the pigeon in the net.

"No! Stop!" Mr Pigeon cried, running forward.

"How about a trade? The akumatised object for the pigeon."

The purple mask reappeared above Mr Pigeon's face.

"That's fine with me, Ladybug. I just akumatised Mr Ramier to get a message to Chat Noir." Hawkmoth said through Mr Pigeon. He looked directly at Chat Noir. "We're coming for you. And you're not going to escape this time."

Chat Noir started breathing very heavily, and loosened his grip on the net and it fell out of his hand. He fell to his knees again as the pigeon flew out. Ladybug threw her yoyo at the akumatised whistle, and watched the akuma fly out.

"Time to de-evilise!" Ladybug quickly threw her yoyo at the akuma and deevilised it. She opened it and a white butterfly came out.

"Bye bye, little butterfly." She said quickly. She picked up the net and untied it from the baton. She threw it in the air. "Miraculous Ladybug." The red ladybugs flew around and brushed the floors, removing any bird poo that had recently been produced.

Ladybug got on her knees and looked at Chat Noir, who was still breathing heavily. She wrapped her arms around him, and whispered to him.

"It's okay, kitty. Nothing's going to happen. Nothing's going to get you."

"B-but they said-d- they-'re com-ming for-r m-me..." Chat Noir gasped, a few more tears sliding down his cheeks.

"No, they're not. They don't know where you're staying, and if they even try to get to you, they're going to have to go through me. And I promise you, they're not going to get you."

Chat Noir sniffed as his breathing started to go back to normal.

"Seriously? The fight's over?" A loud voice called.

Chat Noir jumped and started gasping again. He shut his eyes tight.

"Shh, it's fine. It's just Alya." Ladybug whispered into Chat Noir's ear.

Ladybug turned around, seeing Alya run into the street. Alya saw her and ran up to her. She switched on her phone and started filming.

"Oh, Ladybug, hi! Can I ask you a few questions? Please- woah, is that Chat Noir? What happened to him?" Alya said, filming Chat Noir, who was shaking in Ladybug's arms as he cried.

"It's personal. Please do not post this, Alya."

"Uh, it's livestreaming..." Alya bit her lip.

Ladybug sighed, and heard her earrings and Chat Noir's ring beep. She pulled away from Chat Noir, and picked him up by wrapping one arm beneath his back and his knees. He looked quite small in her arms, and Alya seemed eager to get a good view.

Ladybug stood up and took the yoyo off her waist, and zipped away. She weaved her way through the streets, making sure she was not followed. The sun was no longer visible, and the stars were starting to show.

Ladybug landed on the roof of Le Grand Paris, and looked around one more time to make sure no one was watching. She slipped onto the balcony, and opened the door, hearing the miraculouses beep again.

She stepped inside of the dark room and sat Chat Noir on one of the sofas.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, okay? Do you have food for Plagg?"

"Yeah, I d-do."

"Alright. I'll see you in a few minutes, make sure you stay hidden until I get back, okay?"

Ladybug was sure Hawkmoth and Mayura didn't know he was there, but she didn't want to risk it. She swooped outside and rushed back to the bakery.

"Tikki, Spots Off!"

Marinette passed Tikki a macaron and ran down the stairs.

"Mama, Papa, do you mind if I stay over at, uh, Alya's tonight? It's the holidays so it's not like I'm going to be late for anything."

"Of course, Marinette. But, next time, can you try to tell us at least a day in advance, rather than a few hours?" Sabine said.

"Oh, yeah! Sorry, Mama. I've already brought some of my things over, so I'm just going to go."

"Okay, bye, Marinette! Call us if you need anything!" Tom said as Marinette ran out the bakery door.

"Yes, bye, Mama, Papa!" Marinette ran outside, and hid behind a tree.

"Tikki?"

"I'm right here, Marinette!"

"Wow, I didn't even see you there! Anyway, Tikki, Spots On!"


	5. Chapter 5

Ladybug zipped through the dark streets, keeping an eye out for Hawkmoth and Mayura. She landed on a roof near Le Grand Paris, and opened her yoyo. She tapped on the map, and didn't see Chat Noir's paw print anywhere, probably because he was detransformed. She looked left and right, squinting in the distance, then jumped off the roof onto the streets. She detransformed and went into Le Grand Paris through the front door.

She walked to the elevators and pressed the button, waiting. The room was almost completely silent, the sound of the elevator coming down was the only thing Marinette heard. It was quite unnerving, and she could only imagine how scared Chat Noir would be, especially with Hawkmoth and Mayura on his mind.

There was a ping as the elevator doors opened. She stepped inside, and pressed the top floor button. The doors shut behind her.

Tikki flew out of Marinette's purse, and nodded to her just as the doors opened again.

"Tikki, Spots On!" She whispered.

Ladybug walked through the dimly lit hallway, and stopped outside Chat Noir's room. She knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

Ladybug recognised the voice as Plagg.

"It's Ladybug."

Plagg stuck his face through the door, and looked at Ladybug, examining her.

"What's your secret identity?" Plagg asked, wanting to make sure she was Ladybug, and not someone in disguise.

Ladybug bent down and whispered in his ear.

"M, D, C."

"Initials?"

Ladybug nodded.

"Okay. The kid's hiding in the bed, he's completely terrified." Plagg opened the door.

The room had no lights on, but Ladybug could see where Plagg was taking her. He led Ladybug to the bed, where there was a human-sized bump in the middle. The bump was shaking, and Ladybug could hear him breathing heavily.

"Kitty?" Ladybug sat down beside the bump.

"L-ladybug?"

"I'm right here, do you want to come out?"

Plagg flew through the blanket, and whispered to him. Ladybug couldn't hear what they were saying, but she saw him nod beneath the blanket.

"Plagg, Claws Out!" Chat Noir whispered.

He wriggled a bit under the blanket, finding the end of it. He grabbed it, and poked his head above the covers.

"There you are!" Ladybug shuffled so she sat next to him, with her back against the headboard. She reached out and ruffled his hair.

Chat Noir crawled beside her and curled into a ball, leaning on her a bit. His eyes were open wide, and were looking around the ominously silent room.

"Do you want to go to sleep?" Ladybug asked, facing him. She felt him shake his head, and snuggle closer.

"Are you afraid they're going to come here?"

Chat Noir froze for a moment, then nodded his head.

"You don't need to be afraid, no one's going to get you, kitty."

"They said-d they were c-coming..." he whispered to her.

"They were just trying to get in your head. And, even if they were going to try and take you, I'm not going to let them." Ladybug said wrapped her arm around him. She could feel how quick his heart was beating. "Do you want to try and sleep?"

Chat Noir paused, then nodded. He snuggled closed to her and buried his head beneath her neck. He closed his eyes, and jumped as he heard something. In his panic, he clutched onto the first thing he could, which just happened to be Ladybug's hand.

"Sorry..." he whispered as he released her hand.

"It's okay. You can hold on, if you want." Ladybug said, offering him her hand.

Chat Noir took her hand, and brought it close to his head. He nuzzled into it, and closed his eyes.

…

"Sir, I can't track him..."

"That's fine. We do not need to track him, as we already know where he is. Even if he is transformed, he still won't stand a chance against the both of us if he tries to fight." Gabriel said, looking out the window.

"Are we going to be as quiet as possible, or make a scene?" Nathalie asked.

"As quiet as possible. If everything goes to plan, and there are no unforeseen obstacles, we will take him while he is sleeping, put him in his bed, then say that all that happened recently was just a dream."

"Will us being Hawkmoth and Mayura be a 'dream' to him, or will he know that as the truth?" Nathalie asked.

"I am not too sure about that, it all depends on how strong his memories are." Gabriel replied.

"When are we going to get him?"

"A few hours. I want to make sure that as many people in the area are asleep, so they do not see us take him."

...

Chat Noir looked around. He was in the room Hawkmoth had shown him a few days ago. Emilie was lying unconscious in the same place, and Hawkmoth was walking towards her. Chat Noir followed.

They reached the grassy area, and Chat Noir looked to his right. Ladybug was on her knees, glaring at Chat Noir with venom in her eyes. Hawkmoth went to her, and lifted her chin with her hands.

"Chat Noir, would you please take this _bug's_ miraculous." Hawkmoth said.

Chat Noir nodded, and reached forward to Ladybug's ears. He paused as she started to speak.

"I thought you loved me." Ladybug said, the malice obvious in her voice.

Chat Noir winced. He tried to say 'but I do love you', but nothing happened.

"I will never love you, Chat Noir. I actually hate you, and I have since we first met. I am glad you decided to join Hawkmoth and Mayura. You're a horrible person." Ladybug continued.

Chat Noir felt his heart rip.

"No... no..." He tried to say. But he said nothing.

His hands still reached forward, closer to Ladybug's ears.

"I see you're more loyal to your precious _family_ than me. What happened to you and me against the world?" Ladybug said. She looked like she was about to cry, and her voice seemed to be breaking with every word.

"Stop, no..." He tried to say.

Chat Noir's fingers wrapped around the earrings, and there was a flash of pink light. Ladybug fell onto the floor and lay there as Chat Noir gave the miraculous to Hawkmoth. Tikki appeared beside Ladybug.

"How dare you, Chat Noir. You're a faliure. Master Fu never should have given you the miraculous. Plagg, Ladybug, me... we all deserve so much better than just... _you_." Tikki looked at him with disgust.

"I'm sorry..." He tried to say.

Chat Noir wanted to cry.

"Cataclysm her. Cataclysm Ladybug." Hawkmoth said to Chat Noir.

"No, please, no!" He tried to say.

"Cataclysm!" Chat Noir raised his hand, and brought it close to Ladybug, who still had her mask and costume on, for some reason.

"I hate you, Chat Noir. Everyone does." Ladybug said.

Chat Noir pressed his hand onto Ladybug's body, and watched as she crumbled away.

His heart was burning.

"You're a murderer!" Tikki cried.

"Give me the miraculous, Chat Noir." Hawkmoth said.

He tried to stop himself, but he wasn't in control of his body. Chat Noir took his ring off, and gave it to Hawkmoth. Plagg appeared beside him.

"You've failed. I hope you're proud of yourself." Plagg said.

Adrien turned around, and all his classmates and friends appeared.

"Ugh, you are a monster, Adrien!" Chloe cried. Several others echoed her words.

Marinette stepped out of the crowd. One of his first ever friends. The nicest person he knew.

"You disgust me, Adrien Agreste. I've always secretly hated you." She said to him.

Adrien's heart dropped.

He turned around, and saw Hawkmoth helping Emilie stand. She walked over to him.

"I can't believe you would really betray your own family! We do everything for you, and this is how you repay us?" Emilie yelled at him.

Ladybug appeared in front of him. She snatched the miraculouses.

"I will never love you. I hate you Chat Noir. No one wants you. Not your friends. Not me. Not your family. No one. Nobody wants you. You should be alone forever." Ladybug said, as the put the miraculouses on.

"No... please... no..." he tried to say.

"Plagg, Tikki, unify!" Ladybug said, her anger heard in every word. "I'm leaving you now. You'll be alone, for the rest of your life. Goodbye, Chat Noir. I wish for _Chat Noir_ to go to sleep, and never _wake up_!"

Bright light flashed and flooded towards him.

...

Ladybug felt Chat Noir cuddle her hand gently as he drifted off to sleep. She rested her head on top of his, but refused to close her eyes.

She gazed out of the glass door, seeing nothing by darkness outside. She listened, trying to make out any sounds, but all she heard was her and Chat Noir's breathing. 

She was okay with that. 

After a while, she felt Chat Noir start to breath deeper. She frowned, trying to work out what the problem was. She felt him grip her hand tighter, and realised he was probably having a nightmare. 

"But I do love you..." Chat Noir whispered, his voice barely audible.

She leaned forward, and shook him slightly.

"No... no..." he whispered.

Chat Noir curled up and shook his head, his cheeks going slightly damp from unnoticed tears. His breathing got even more unsteady and uneven.

"Stop, no..." he begged.

Ladybug shifted her position, and lay Chat Noir on the bed, with his face up. He had clearly been crying, and his skin was pale.

"I'm sorry..." he muttered.

He pawed desperately at the air, trying to get out of his nightmare.

"No, please, no!" Chat Noir cried.

Ladybug shook him harder.

"No... please... no..." he sobbed.

"Chat Noir! Wake up!" Ladybug shook him harder.

His eyes flickered open. He saw Ladybug, and her threw himself at her, wrapping his arms around her and crying into her shoulder.

"I'm sorry! Please don't leave me!" He begged her.

Ladybug stroked his back, calming him down.

"I'm not going to leave you, I'm never going to leave you." she whispered in his ears.

Chat Noir's breathing slowly went back to normal.

"Better?" Ladybug asked him.

Chat Noir nodded. "I- I'm sorry-"

"No, don't be sorry." Ladybug sat against the headboard again.

Chat Noir snuggled into her arms again.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" Ladybug asked, putting one of her arms around Chat Noir.

"Hawkmoth was there, and he- he told me to take your miraculous- and to- destroy you with my cataclysm- and I did. You- you said you hated me- and you were glad I joined them- because- because I'm horrible. And then- then Tikki said I was a failure- and Master Fu gave the miraculous to me as- as a mistake. Then I- I- k-killed you, and Tikki said I was a m-murderer-" Chat Noir cried, holding onto Ladybug.

Ladybug frowned and stroked his back.

"Hawkmoth asked for my miraculous- and I- I gave it to him. Plagg said I failed, and my friends from school said I was a monster- and- and they never liked me- and were disgusted by me- and- and she came back, and was angry with me- and I betrayed my family. Then you- you came back and took the miraculouses and said- you- you said you would never love me- and- and no one wanted me. You said I should be alone forever- and you- you made the wish, and then- then I woke up."

"Don't worry, it's not real. I'll never leave you, and I definitely don't hate you." Ladybug said to him. "And, you didn't betray your family. You chose your own path in life."

"But I did betray them..." Chat Noir whispered.

"No, you didn't. You were strong, and showed that you are your own person, and not just a puppet they can manipulate. I'm incredibly proud of you!" Ladybug said.

"Really?"

"Yes! Of course I am!" Ladybug gave Chat Noir a hug.

"Thank you." He whispered to her.

Ladybug let him take her hand, and felt him nuzzled her neck.

"You and me against the world?" Chat Noir asked.

"Always." Ladybug said.

...

"What happens if we don't get him back?" Nathalie asked, breaking the silence.

"We will." Gabriel said.

"But, there is a chance that Ladybug will be there, so-"

"We will still get him back. If she is reluctant, I will tell her about Emilie. Ladybug will either give him to us, give both the miraculouses, or continue to resist further. If she does resist, Adrien will get angry with her, for not wanting to bring back his mother. Whatever happens, we will get the Cat miraculous back."

"Even if we must leave Adrien behind?" Nathalie asked.

"Yes, if we must. Tonight will be his final chance to prove his loyalty to us, as his family."

Nathalie nodded. She stood up behind her desk. "Are we going now?"

"Yes. Nooroo, Darkwings Rise!"

"Duusu, Spread My Feathers!"

Hawkmoth and Mayura rose. They left the Agreste mansion, and leapt into the night.

Hawkmoth ran along the roof, followed by Mayura. They were approaching Le Grand Paris.

Hawkmoth slowed down as he jumped onto the balcony. His feet made a tiny sound as he landed, as did Mayura's. He gestured to the door. 

Mayura placed her hand on it, and twisted the handle. The door opened silently.

Hawkmoth stepped inside, and Mayura came in after him.

...

Ladybug let Chat Noir hold her hand as he slept again. She stroked his back, and rested her head on top of his again. She felt her eyelids grow heavy, and let them drop.

Sleep took her soon after, so she didn't see the suspicious dark figures on the balcony, or hear anything.

However, Chat Noir's sensitive cat ears did, and perked up at the small sound of walking on the balcony outside.

Ladybug felt something tickle her chin, and opened her eyes. She looked down, and saw Chat Noir's cat ears straight up, although he looked asleep. 

Ladybug yawned, and frowned as she saw the handle twisting slightly. Her eyes widened, and her hand went protectively around Chat Noir. She stood up on the bed, carrying Chat Noir in her arms. He cuddled her hand, and nuzzled her neck, not fully asleep yet.

Ladybug squinted at the door, as it opened. Ladybug jumped of the bed, hearing Chat Noir whimper slightly.

The door opened futher, and Hawkmoth and Mayura crept into the room.

"Aww, the ladybug is protecting her little kitty cat!" Mayura mocked.

"He's not her's. He belongs to me, Ladybug. If you give him to me, you might get out of here with your miraculous." Hawkmoth said.

"He does not belong to you. He's his own person. And then what? You'll try to get the miraculouses again. No, Hawkmoth. " Ladybug whispered to him.

Ladybug didn't want to wake up Chat Noir, as he would probably break down at the sight of them.

"So, we'll take both of the miraculouses here tonight. I like that idea, Ladybug." Hawkmoth said, walking forward, his cane held out threateningly towards Ladybug.

"No, you're not getting any miraculouses tonight. However, you may lose some."

"You are outnumbered and out powered. If you give him to us, you will be doing him a great favour." Hawkmoth said.

"How so?" Ladybug asked.

"Did he ever tell you why I- we need the miraculouses?"

Ladybug looked down at Chat Noir, making sure he was still asleep. "No, he didn't. And, if he doesn't want to tell me, that's fine."

"Well, I think I should tell you, then. Chat Noir's mother is currently... not fully alive. Chat Noir has been emotionally destroyed by her not being here, so I need the wish. I need the wish to make him happy again. To make my son happy again." Hawkmoth said, guarding his facial expression, but watching Ladybug's carefully.

"You're his... father... and Mayura is-"

"A friend. A friend to me and Chat Noir. She has risked her life many times to help Chat Noir be happy again. Unlike you, who clearly doesn't care about his happiness. With the wish, I would bring Chat Noir's mother back, and he wouldn't be so emotionally broken."

"If he was emotionally broken, it would be because of what you have done to him. You have made him feel alone-"

"Which is how he has felt since his mother disappeared. We have a chance to make him happy again, don't you want that?" Hawkmoth asked.

"He would be happy if you left him alone! Look at what you've done, you've traumatised him! He's having nightmares about you!" Ladybug snapped.

Hawkmoth raised his eyebrows, and the corners of his mouth perked up. "Is he now?"

Ladybug took a step back as she realised Hawkmoth could use that against them in the future.

"Don't you see? He wants his mother back desperately. He has been hiding his pain through the puns and the jokes, and you couldn't even see past them!" Hawkmoth said, poising his cane for use.

"Humour is a coping mechanism, and Chat Noir find comfort in it. He hasn't said any jokes ever since he found out about you, as you are the one who causes his pain."

Mayure closed in on them as Hawkmoth gritted his teeth and swiped at Ladybug with the cane.

Ladybug dodged quickly, her eyes looking around to try and find an escape.

Chat Noir seemed to wake up at the movement. 

"I love you, m'lady..." he said sleepily. He reached up with his head and licked Ladybug's jaw bone. Then he continued to cuddle her hand and nuzzle against her neck.

"Aww, how sweet!" Hawkmoth said, loud enough for Chat Noir to hear.

Chat Noir looked up at the voice, and froze. His breathing quickened and deepened as he began to panic again.

"No... no... it's not real... no..." Chat Noir gasped, burying his head in Ladybug's shoulder.

Ladybug needed to get them out of there. She looked to her left, where the bed was. She jumped in its direction, and quickly backtracked when Mayura lunged at her.

Ladybug ran around Hawkmoth, sliding under his cane as he tried to hit her. She jumped on the sofa, and Mayura lunged at her again.

Ladybug stumbled as she jumped over Mayura. She rolled on the ground, and stood up, running out of the door. She ran off the edge of the balcony and jumped onto the next building.

Hawkmoth and Mayura followed. Mayura ran faster than Ladybug, and tripped her up. Ladybug, who was struggling to hold Chat Noir, slipped off the roof. She couldn't get her yoyo because both her hands were occupied with Chat Noir.

Hawkmoth reached forward and grabbed Ladybug's foot, just before she went toppling to the roads.

"What do you want to do, Ladybug? Do you want to get both you and Chat Noir injured, or do you want to make a deal?" Hawkmoth said.

Ladybug could see that Hawkmoth had the upper hand. "What's in the deal?"

"You get back up onto the roof, in exchange for Chat Noir." Hawkmoth said.

"No deal!" Ladybug called. "You're not getting him."

"You can keep the boy, we'll just take the ring." Hawkmoth said.

"No!" Ladybug looked to her side, where there was a balcony. 

"I'll be back very soon, don't go anywhere." She whispered to Chat Noir as she placed him on the balcony. He looked at her, fear evident in his eyes. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

He nodded, and curled up in the corner of the balcony, his black suit blending in with the night.

Ladybug took her yoyo off her waist, and zipped away. Mayura followed her.

Chat Noir, still shaking, peeked out, and saw Ladybug zip away, Mayura close behind her. 

"Where are you, kitty?" Hawkmoth asked. "I'm going to find you!"

"No, no, this is just a bad dream-" Chat Noir whispered to himself.

"Oh, believe me. If this was a dream, it would be a very good dream." Hawkmoth said as he landed on the small balcony. "We could be a family, son. You, me, your mother. Nathalie would be with us too. We have worked so hard, do you really want it all to be for nothing?"

Chat Noir whimpered, trying to block out his voice.

"I have already told you. There is no escape. Come with us, and we could bring back Emilie. Do you really think that Ladybug is more important than your family? The people who raised you? We have done so much for you, and you can't do anything for us?"

"I- c-can-"

"Then, all you need to do, is take my hand." Hawkmoth held out his hand.

Cautiously, Chat Noir reached for Hawkmoth's hand with his right hand. He looked up at Hawkmoth.

"Your mother will be so proud of you. Nathalie will, too. And me." Hawkmoth said.

Chat Noir placed his hand on Hawkmoth's.

"Look at me, son." Hawkmoth said, drawing Chat Noir's attention away from his ring. "You are such a brilliant son. I have always loved you, and your mother has too."

Hawkmoth wrapped his fingers around the ring, and started pulling it off Chat Noir's finger. "Here, how about a hug? I know you loved snuggling up with Ladybug, especially when you have nightmares, like that nightmare about me!"

Chat Noir blushed. That was his personal life. How had Hawkmoth known? Had he been watching them? 

"Speaking about nightmares... what scares you? Why did you have that nightmare?" Hawkmoth asked firmly. "Answer the question."

"I- think I-I'm scared of, uh-"

"I don't have all day! I am just trying to make conversation, nothing more!" Hawkmoth said.

"B-being alone, and, uh, t-trapped..."

Chat Noir's gaze lowered, to his hand, where the ring was a bit lower than usual.

Hawkmoth swept Chat Noir in a hug. Chat Noir was surprised for a moment, then hugged his father back.

Hawkmoth gritted his teeth as Chat Noir slipped the ring further back onto his finger.

"You have betrayed your family, haven't you?"

"I'm sorry..." Chat Noir said.

...

Ladybug looked behind her, and saw Mayura was following her, but not Hawkmoth. Ladybug's eyes widened as she realised Chat Noir was now alone with him. She jumped onto the next roof, and threw her yoyo at Mayura.

Mayura stumbled and dodged, jumping over Ladybug. Ladybug ran back to where she had left Chat Noir, and hid behind a chimney.

"I'm sorry..." Ladybug heard Chat Noir say.

"It's okay, son. How about you prove you are sorry?"

"How?"

"Maybe, try and get close to Ladybug again, and take her miraculous and leave her." Hawkmoth said, his voice soft.

Ladybug frowned, listening for Chat Noir's reply.

"B-but I c-can't-"

"Oh, is your deep love for her stopping you? She is a bad influence on you, son. If you don't do this, I will take your miraculous away. Would you like that?"

"N-no, Father."

Ladybug looked over the chimney, seeing Hawkmoth step away from Chat Noir.

"Did you just call me Father?" Hawkmoth said, keeping his voice steady.

Chat Noir shrunk down. "N-n-no-"

"So now, you're lying to me?"

"I-I didn't mean to, Fath- Hawkmoth-"

"See, you almost made the same mistake again! How can I trust you with a miraculous, if I can't even trust you with a name?" Hawkmoth said, raising his cane threateningly. 

Chat Noir shrunk down even more. "No, no! I-I'm sorry! I won't do it again!"

"No, you will not!" Hawkmoth cried, bringing the cane down on Chat Noir's shoulder.

Chat Noir cried out and fell to his knees. "Ladybug!"

Ladybug had enough. 

"You are the worst parent ever, Hawkmoth!" Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around Chat Noir, and pulled him towards her. He landed on the roof beside her, and fell to his knees again.

"Come on, kitty, we have to go!" Ladybug said.

"B-but, how am I supposed to do anything if I can't even just pick a side!" Chat Noir cried.

Ladybug saw Mayura and Hawkmoth talking on the balcony, the look in her direction. Ladybug bent down and picked Chat Noir up with one of her hands, and zipped them both away.

"I'm sorry! This is all my fault!" Chat Noir cried.

"No, it's not. You're just a bit confused because of all that's happened. You don't need to be sorry."

"What do I do?" Chat Noir whispered to her.

"You can do whatever you want to do. You can join Hawkmoth and Mayura, and I would understand. You- you can give up your miraculous if you don't want to do this anymore. Or, you can do something else." Ladybug slowed down.

"Can I- can I stay with you?" Chat Noir whispered.

"Of course you can!" Ladybug gave him a hug.

"Thank you..." Chat Noir whispered, wiping tears away.

"You and me against the world, remember?" Ladybug said.

Chat Noir nodded. "Always."

...

"They got away." Gabriel said.

"Yes, sir."

"They got away!" Gabriel screamed. "He was not supposed to get away!"

"We can get him next time."

"No! There will be no next time!"

"What do you mean? Are we not going to bri-"

"He is out. He is no longer a part of the family. He is a traitor. A betrayer."

Gabriel paused.

"When does his school start again?"

Nathalie looked up the date.

"A few days."

"I'll leave him a letter there. I'll tell him what he truly is. I'll say he has one final chance."

"Does he? Does he have a final chance?"

Gabriel shrugged.

"Maybe."


	6. Chapter 6

Hawkmoth's window opened, allowing the moonlight to stream into the room. He opened his palm, and darkened the butterfly that landed on it.

"Go, precious akuma, and embrace this fearful mind." he said, swinging his cane around.

The akuma fluttered out of the window and flew across Paris. It flew into an open window and landed on a man's glasses.

"Sleeper, you cannot sleep due to your fears plaguing your mind. I can give you the power to trap other's in their own nightmares, in exchange for a few small pieces of jewelery."

"Okay, Hawkmoth."

Sleeper stood up, and allowed his supervillain form to take over.

Hawkmoth turned to Mayura.

"Just bring him back while he's distracted. Don't bother with trying to convince him to return."

...

Ladybug and Chat Noir jumped across the rooftops, towards the large puff of purple that erupted from one of the buildings. They slowed down and looked around, for any clue of what happened. They jumped onto the road and saw people looking around, dazed.

"There!" Ladybug pointed to the top of a nearby roof, where there was a silhouette of a person surrounded by purple-ish clouds.

She and Chat Noir approached the person, and Ladybug threw her yoyo around them.

"Ah, Ladybug, Chat Noir, I was wondering when you would show up. I am Sleeper, and you will give me your miraculous!"

"Their speeches get better each time..." Ladybug murmured to Chat Noir as she rolled her eyes.

Chat Noir chuckled a little as he got his baton ready to attack.

A purple mask hovered above Sleeper's face as he started to speak again. "So willing to betray your own family, aren't you, son?"

"N-no." Chat Noir said.

Ladybug looked at him carefully, worried he would break down again, but he appeared to be staying strong.

"You- what you're doing is wrong. Sure, it's for a good cause, but there will be a price to pay!" Chat Noir continued.

Sleeper sighed, the mask still hovering in front of his face. "Ladybug, I suggest you leave him now. He's not a very loyal person."

"He's always been on the side of good, and he still is. I will never leave him, or punish him for his opinion like you would." Ladybug said, stepping closer. Her eyes looked at Sleeper's body, but all she could see was a floating set of pyjamas and a pair of glasses. The akuma had to be hiding in one of them.

Chat Noir swung his baton at Sleeper, and knocked him over. Sleeper laughed and looked at Ladybug, his glasses pointing directly at her. Purple gas flew out in her direction, and she didn't have enough time to move, so Chat Noir did the next best thing.

He tackled her to the ground, and got hit with the gas himself. It slid into his mouth, eyes and ears, creating horrible sensations within them. He breathed it in, and it suffocated and blinded him.

...

Ladybug felt Chat Noir push her to the ground. She fell onto her stomach and turned around, seeing the gas seep into eyes, ears and mouth. Sleeper's cackled and launched himself at her, pushing her off the roof.

The two spun over each other, and Ladybug reached for the glasses. She saw them release another puff of purple at her, and she made sure to dodge it. She stole a glance to the roof they had been on a few moments ago, and saw Chat Noir's body collapse completely.

Ladybug's attention was taken once again by the supervillain, when he started attacking civilians. Ladybug took her yoyo and threw it into the air.

"Lucky Charm!"

A bucket fell into her hands. Ladybug looked around, and leapt away as Sleeper attacked her again with his glasses. On her yoyo, Ladybug swung through the steets, trying to find something she could use. She planned on throwing some sort of liquid at him to startle him, but she didn't know where to find any.

Ladybug squinted as she searched the streets, and spotted the river. Of course, she could use the water from the river! She landed and dipped the bucket in the Siene, filling with water. She stood back up and saw Sleeper flying towards her, balancing on the gas. Ladybug swung up at him and kicked him around his stomach. He rolled off the cloud of gas and onto a roof. He continued to chase her, and she zipped back to where the fight had started.

She landed on one of the nearby rooftops and heard Sleeper land behind her. She turned around and saw purple gas flow out of his glasses directly at her. Ladybug threw the water at him, and he fell back in surprise. Ladybug slid beneath the gas and swung her foot at his feet, knocking him over. His glasses fell of his face and landed beside Ladybug's other foot. She stomped on it, and heard it crack under the pressure.

The akuma flew out of the shards of glass.

"Time to de-evilise!" Ladybug threw her yoyo at the akuma and caught it. She opened the yoyo once the akuma had been purified, and let it go. She took the bucket and threw it into the sky. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

Ladybug helped the man up once his supervillain constume had disappeared.

"Oh, my head... oh, Ladybug! What happened?"

"You were akumatised, but don't worry. You're fine now." Ladybug smiled at him and passed him his glasses.

"Thank you, Ladybug." the man stood up, and seemed to spot someone on the ground. "Jude!"

Ladybug turned, seeing a girl wave up to the man. He smiled down at her and began to walk off the roof.

"Woah, let me help you down..." Ladybug said. She wrapped an arm around the man and brought him down the the ground, hearing her earrings beep.

"Father!" the girl cried, running up the man. They embraced in a hug, and Ladybug couldn't help but smile softly. The girl looked up at Ladybug.

"You go on, Father, I'll meet you at home. Let me just thank this nice person."

"Very well. I'll see you there." the man walked across the quiet street and turned the corner.

The girl saw him turn the corner, and then looked back to Ladybug.

"You don't need to thank m-" Ladybug started.

"Ha! Thank you! Why would I thank you?" the girl asked.

"Uh, Jude, wha-"

"Okay, first of all, my name is Jade. Jade. Can you say that? Jade." the girl said, as if she were talking to a young child.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Jade." Ladybug said. She didn't like Jade, and clearly Jade didn't like her. "I'll just go-"

"No. I don't like the way you were looking at Dupofin and I."

"Oh, sorry, I wa-"

"Oh, please, save it. You could have lowered him to the ground on your yoyo, but instead, you had to seduce him." Jade said, crossing her arms.

"I didn't seduce him, I just-" Ladybug's earrings beeped in the middle of her sentence. "I have to go, okay. I'm sorry if you think I was seducing your father-"

Jade snickered. "Oh, Ladybug. You have so much wrong here! Can't the superhero stay and chat with her fans?"

"I really doubt you are a fan..."

"You are right about that one, Ladybug. But you're wrong about pretty much everything else you said."

Ladybug rolled her eyes, getting very worked up by this girl. "Like what?"

"Well, for starters, he's not my father." Jade said.

This caught Ladybug off guard. "What? But you said-"

"I say a lot of things. You may have recognised that man to be a well known baker in the area. Lots of delicious breads. Lots of money. He just has a memory problem. I told him I was his daughter, and he believed me." Jade said smugly.

"You can't just do that to someone!" Ladybug cried. "There would be records-"

"Yes, Ladybug. There are records. And, whenever someone tries to find me, I'll be there." Jade said.

Ladybug's earrings beeped again.

"Go on, Ladybug. Go and feed your kwami." Jade said. She turned and walked away, her startling green eyes no longer visible.

"What? How did you know?"

"I have my sources." Jade shrugged. She turned the corner and disappeared.

Ladybug stared after her, completely confused. She took her yoyo off her waist and swung away to her home.

...

Chat Noir heard clangs echo around him as metal poles trapped him in a cage-like structure. He looked around, but only saw the darkness of his own mind. He heard Hawkmoth laughing, and it drained the life out of him.

"Hawkmoth?" he called out.

Hawkmoth came into view, chuckling.

“Hello, son. I was wondering if-”

“No! No, no, no! I don’t want to go back! Just leave me alone!”

“I will leave you alone, if you give me something in return.” Hawkmoth walked around the outside of the cage.

“My ring? No, I’m not giving it to you.”

“Maybe you’ll change your mind if Ladybug asked you.”

“Why would Ladybug ask me to give my miraculous to you?” Chat Noir asked.

“Maybe because she understands the concept of family. Nathalie and I miss your mother, who don’t you?”

“I- I do miss her, but doing this is wrong!”

“Wrong? Is it wrong to want to save a loved one?” Hawkmoth asked, looking at Chat Noir with disgust.

“No, it’s wrong to use innocent civilians for your own advantage-”

“They’re fine, Adrien! We could put all this behind us once we get back your mother, woudn’t that be nice?” Hawkmoth said, detransforming into Gabriel Agreste.

The poles of the cage fell, and Gabriel stepped closer. He spoke with a soft voice.

“We could be the perfect family. We will be one whole family, just like we were before. You would be able to see all your friends everyday, and I would even cancel some of the photoshoots for-”

“Some of the photoshoots? Some? Is your job really more important than my own happiness? I’m done with being the perfect model for you. I’m done with being perfect. I just want to-”

“You just want to what? Abandon your family? Betray their trust? You’ve already done that to your poor family. They must be so dissapointed in you.”

“You say it like you’re not my family…”

“I’m not. You are no longer a part of my family. Go and make your own. I’m sure Ladybug would love to have someone as selfish and disloyal as you. Go to her, although I’m sure you’ll become a traitor to her too.”

“No, I won’t-”

“You’re right. She would never want to have a family with someone as horrid as you. It’s a wonder she doesn’t kick you out of her life like the stray you are.” Gabriel said calmly. “Stop being so selfish and disloyal. This mess is all your fault. Use this time to think about you and your life.”

Gabriel’s body dissapeared, Chat Noir was left alone in the darkness.

Chat Noir broke down into a mess of tears. His father was right about him. How could he have been so selfish to betray his own family? How could he be so selfish as to push is problems onto Ladybug? Why would she care about some stray like him?

He felt something brush over his body, and then the darkness vanished. Chat Noir looked around, and saw the buildings on his side moving very quicky. The buildings were moving? That didn’t make any sense. He must be moving. But, he wasn’t moving…

Chat Noir looked up and saw Mayura carrying him, running along the rooftops. In a desperate attempt, he threw out his hand at her face. She looked down at him angrily, and lost her balance. Chat Noir wriggled in her grip, and managed to get free.

“Come back, your father wants to speak with you!” Mayura called.

“He- he’s not my father! He said we’re not a family anymore. Just leave me alone!” Chat Noir said, running away from her as fast as he could.

Mayura slowed down. How had Chat Noir known that Gabriel didn’t want ot be a family with him anymore? Had he been watching them?

“He wants to make a deal with you!” Mayura sped up, knowing she would be able to catch up with him.

She closed the distance between them and grabbed his tail, pulling sharply on it. He yelped in response and tried to pull his tail out of her grasp.

“Just listen, please. The deal can benefit you.”

“He wants my miraculous, and he’s not getting it!”

“The deal is a lot more than that.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“He wants your miraculous, and then you will be free, and we’ll never bother you again.”

“Never bother me again? Of course you will!”

“We won’t. We promise. We just want to bring your mother back, and we’ll even return the miraculouses, how about that?”

“Will you return the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous?” Chat Noir asked.

“Yes, we’ll even do that.”

Chat Noir thought about it. By accepting, he could bring his mother back, and get Hawkmoth and Mayura to give the miraculouses to Ladybug. But, he had already betrayed his family, he couldn’t possibly betray Ladybug too.

“No.”

“No? Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to!”

While Mayura was distracted, he pulled his tail loose, and jumped off the roof. He hid in the shadows, knowing his suit would help him blend in.

He heard Mayura let out a sigh of frustration, and saw he head in the direction of th Agreste mansion. He waited a few minutes, then climbed back onto the top of the roof. Now, where was Ladybug?

…

Ladybug crouched down on her balcony and detransformed, catching Tikki in her hands. She opened the trapdoor ans slipped inside, passing Tikki a macaron from her purse.

Marinette mind wandered back to Jade. She remembered their conversation, and remembered when Jade had refered to the man as ‘Dupofin’. Marinette took her phone out of her pocket and searched the name.

One man came up, and images depicted a man who looked the same as Dupofin. As Jade said, he was a famous baker, who was also very rich. Marinette’s finger wandered back to the search bar, where she added the word ‘daughter’. Only a few websites came up. Marinette tapped the top one, and waited for the page to load. She sat on her bed, getting bored as the page loaded.

“Ladybug?” Chat Noir called from outside.

Chat Noir! She had completely forgotten. Marinette got onto her balcony and saw Chat Noir running along the rooftops.

“Hey! Chat Noir!”

Chat Noir turned and saw her. He ran over to her balcony and landed on the roof, then climbed his way onto the railing.

“Hi, Marinette!”

“Hi. What are you doing out so late?”

“I could ask you the same.”

“I was doing homework… but I asked first!”

“I was… I had a visit from someone…” Chat Noir said, thinking about Mayura.

“From Ladybug?”

“Well, yeah, her too. But, I was thinking about Mayura…”

“Mayura? What?”

“No, no, don’t worry. She’s gone now.” Chat Noir stood up, and took his baton off his back. “I should go, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to share my problems with you.”

“Don’t worry about that. Where are you going? Are you heading home?”

“I don’t have a home anymore. But, it’s fine! I’ll just find somewhere to sleep… hopefully Ladybug will come. Have you seen her?”

“I- uh- no? Yes!”

“You did? Do you know where she went?”

“She said she was really sorry, but she had something to do. She said that if I see you, I should… uh, let you in… Do you want to come inside?”

“Really?” Chat Noir’s face lit up. “Wait, no, I shouldn’t, I don’t want to be-”

“Really, Chat Noir. You won’t be a disturbance or anything. Please, kitty?”

“I- uh, okay…”

Marinette went back into her room, and Chat Noir followed her inside. She sat on her bed and looked over to him, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, trying to hide his yawn.

"You can sleep on the chaise, if you want."

"Thank you." Chat Noir said quietly.

"Ah, this is soft..." he murmered as he sank into the plush softness of the chaise. He curled up slightly, resting his head.

Marinette smiled at him, and lowered the lights as she saw him yawn again.

"Look, you've got dolls of me and Ladybug!" he pointed to her table, where the dolls were sitting.

Marinette forgot he could see in the dark.

"Yes, do you like them?"

"Yeah. The ones I have at home are action figures, though."

"Yup, action figures, totally..." Marinette teased.

"There are!" he whined.

"Wait, you have Ladybug and Chat Noir dolls- action figures at home?" Marinette grinned at him.

"No..." Chat Noir was grateful for the dark, so Marinette didn't see his cheeks darken in colour.

"You do!" Marinette stumbled through the darkness and picked up the dolls.

She walked over to where he was lying, and wiggled them in his face. She could tell he was embarrassed as he pressed his face into the chaise, hiding from her.

"You don't need to be shy, kitty." Marinette said, scratching him behind one of the cat ears on his head.

The ear wiggled, and Marinette could hear him start to purr as he nuzzled into her touch.

"Are you... purring?" Marinette asked.

Chat Noir froze. "No..."

Marinette continued to scratch him behind the ears, her cheeks hurting from grinning so much. The purring intensified, then Marinette pulled her hand away, and picked up the dolls again.

"Hey! Why'd you stop?" Chat Noir looked at her, then blushed furiously as she made the dolls kiss. "Stop it!"

"Oh, you're just jealous of the Chat Noir doll." Marinette laughed.

"That's not the point!" he whined.

"Come on, kitty, you just want a little kiss..." Marinette said.

She brought the Ladybug doll closer to his face, and softly pressed the face of the doll to his face. He looked at it and grabbed it, bringing the doll to his chest.

"Aww, you're just a cuddly little kitty, aren't you?" Marinette said, scratching his scalp again.

She passed him the Chat Noir doll, and he took it and brought it to his chest again. He purred, closing his eyes, snuggling the dolls close to him.

Marinette climbed the ladder and got back onto her bed, looking at her phone. The page had loaded, and she skimmed through it quickly. There were only a few sentences describing her appearance, but Marinette was sure it was Jade. She scrolled down, seeing a picture of a younger Jade. She squinted and zoomed in on the caption beneath the picture, and saw the date the picture had been added. 1 minute ago.

Marinette frowned and bit her lip. The picture had been added one minute ago. That couldn't just be a coincidence, could it?

Marinette put her phone on the charger on her table and rolled over in her bed, about to sleep, when she realised she wasn't wearing her pyjamas. Sighing, she stood up and took her pjyamas. She looked at Chat Noir and whispered into his ear.

"Are you asleep?"

Chat Noir sleepily mumbled a response.

"Um, sure. Don't look, I'm going to change."

Marinette pulled out her folding screen and stood behind it. She changed and put the screen in the corner of her room, dumping her clothes in a pile. She really couldn't be bothered to tidy up. She climbed back into her bed and closed her eyes.

...

Jade flicked through her phone, and tapped on the website Ladybug was most likely to use. She tapped the 'edit' button and added a photo she had taken of herself a few years ago. Her finger hovered above the 'save' button. She waited.

A while later, and quiet ping echoed from her phone, a sound that was programmed to sound whenever someone accesses the website. She pressed the 'save' button instantly. The photo was uploaded. Jade chuckled to herself. That'll certainly freak Ladybug out.

Jade clicked on the 'visits' button, that was accessible only to her, as she was the creator of the page. Someone who went by the name of Marinette Dupain-Cheng had just accessed the page.

Oh, Ladybug, you've just made the biggest mistake of your life...

"Oh, who are you?" Dupofin asked, coming into her bedroom.

"I'm your daughter, remember, father?" Jade said.

"My... daughter?" Dupofin frowned, and looked up at her, as if realisation had struck. "Ah, yes! Jude! I'm so sorry I forgot."

"Oh, it's alright, father. Do you mind if I go to a friend's place tomorrow? I would love to get to know her better."

"Of course, Jude! What's her name?"

"Her name is... Marinette."

"Marinette who?"

"Uh, Marinette... Dupain-Cheng." Jade squinted at the screen.

"Dupain-Cheng? Where have I heard that name before?" Dupofin closed his eyes, trying hard to remember. "Sorry, I don't seem to remember, but I recognise the name."

"That's okay." Jade paused. "Can you sign me up to go to Françoise Dupont once the holiday ends?"

"Of course, Jude! I think it's very good that you're taking such an interest in your education."

"Thank you, father. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, Jude." Dupofin closed her door, and made his way to his own bedroom.

Jade put her phone away and leaned back, thinking. All she needed to do next was find a big secret this Marinette person had. Of course, Jade could use her identity against her, but she wanted something _more_. Something she could use against Ladybug _and_ Chat Noir.

Two heroes as her personal servants. Jade liked the sound of that.

Oh, blackmail was _so_ much more fun than simply pretending.

...

Marinette woke up to water pouring down on her face. Her eyes cracked open, and she saw rain splattering down on her bed from the open trapdoor above her. Of course she would forget to close the trapdoor when it rains. Marinette stood up on the bed and shut the trapdoor. She sat on her bed and felt the soaking wet bedsheets. She sighed, pulling them off.

Marinette dumped them in a pile on top of the clothes she had worn yesterday. She changed her sopping pyjamas and dumped them in the pile too. She glanced up to her damp, empty bed. Her gaze wandered to the chaise, where Chat Noir was sleeping, curled up, still holding the dolls close. She took a deep breath and made a decision she hoped she wouldn't regret.

She lay on the chaise, gently pushing him to the edge. She saw one of the dolls fall from Chat Noir's arms, and she narrowed her eyes. She was going to get it for him. She didn't want to, but she would. Why? She didn't know.

She walked around the chaise and picked up the doll that had fallen, and tucked it back into his arms. She looked at his face, and she realised she could tease him about that in the morning. Grinning, she picked up her phone and took a quick picture of him.

With the flash.

Chat Noir scrunched his eyes and opened them after a few moments. Marinette slid beneath the chaise before he could see her.

"Marinette?" Chat Noir called out.

Marinette heard an inkling of fear in his voice. She heard him get up, and saw his boots step onto the floor. She held her breath as he climbed the ladder, and saw her empty bed.

"M-Marinette? Are you here?" he asked, eyes looking around the room.

This was his fault. Hawkmoth and Mayura had probably found him in Marinette's bedroom, and kidnapped her. Ladybug would be so angry with him. He could hear her yelling at him now, just as she had a few days ago.

_"How could you, Chat Noir? How could you be so selfish? She was your friend! She trusted you! I trusted you! Your family trusted you, and you betrayed them. I should have known. I should have left you when I had the chance. I knew you would betray me. You are a stray. You are a traitor. Go away. No one wants you. Not your family. Not Marinette. Not me. Nobody."_

Chat Noir fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands. He was selfish. He had betrayed everyone. He was just some traitor nobody wanted.

Marinette slid out from beneath the chaise and rushed over to him, seeing him break down in tears. She felt horrible and wrapped her arms around him.

"Chat Noir, shh, calm down, don't worry. I've got you."

Chat Noir barely registered her voice as he sobbed helplessly into her shoulder.

"I- I- I'm s-s-sorry- this is all m-my f-fault!"

"What? No! How is this your fault? Nothing's happened. You're safe-"

"A-and you're not, because of me!"

"I am safe! Look, I'm right here."

Marinette saw his eyes flickered open, and see her. He hugged her harder.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, this is my fault..." he said, slowly calming down as he realised she was safe.

"No, none of this is your fault. What did you think happened?"

Marinette felt him shake his head.

"Was it something about me?"

"Yeah... I thought they took you." Chat Noir pulled back, wiping the tears away with his hand.

"No, I just wasn't in my bed because it was raining, and I forgot to close the trapdoor. My bed's wet, and it rained on my face..."

Chat Noir gave her a watery grin.

"Do you want to see something?" Marinette asked, picking up her phone.

"Uh, okay."

Marinette sat on the chaise, patting the space next to her. Chat Noir sat next to her, looking at the dolls at his feet. He wanted them, and Marinette could tell. She picked them up and gave them to him, while he wished the world would just swallow him. Marinette gave him a hug, scratching him behind his cat ears.

"No need to be embarrassed, kitty." Marinette said, smiling when he started to purr again. "Although, this will probably embarrass you..."

"What will?" Chat Noir asked.

He brought the toys to his stomach and wrapped his arms around them. He glanced at Marinette's phone, and saw her go onto the gallery. She tapped on the most recent image, and Marinette giggled.

"Is that... me?"

"Yup, you cuddling the dolls."

Chat Noir was silent. Marinette switched her phone off and threw it at her table, cringing when she missed and it fell onto the floor.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I just... zoned out..."

"Does it have something to do with Hawkmoth and Mayura?"

"Wha- how did you know?"

"Oh, I, uh, Ladybug, she told me... yeah, she told me."

"Oh."

"Well, does it have something to do with Hawkmoth and Mayura?"

"I think so... I just- don't want to betray you or Ladybug."

"You wouldn't betray either of us. We're here for you, just as you're here for us, right?"

Chat Noir nodded, suppressing a yawn.

"Is the cuddly little kitty tired?"

"No..." he said, but the way his eyelids drooped and he leaned on Marinette said otherwise.

"I think you are."

"No, I'm not..."

Chat Noir closed his eyes, clutching the dolls close while leaning heavily on Marinette.

"Nope, pretty sure you are tired." Marinette said.

"N- am not..." Chat Noir said, yawning again.

"Sure thing." Marinette said.

She scratched him behind his cat ears, smiling softly as he purred again. She shut her eyes, making a mental note to herself to tease him again later.

...

Jade woke up and slipped out of her bed. She scribbled a quick note to Dupofin and left it on the table by the front door. She put on a hoodie and left the house.

She walked to the Dupain-Cheng bakery, which she had found in her research of Marinette. She opened the door, seeing two bakers inside.

"Hi! Can I speak to Marinette, please? It's about school. I'm going to be joining tomorrow, and I wanted to talk with her about it." Jade said, smiling brightly.

"Oh, how nice! Are you joining Françoise Dupont too?"

"Yep!"

"That's nice. But, Marinette isn't here right now." Sabine said.

"She's not?" Jade asked, genuinely surprised.

"She's at a friend's house. Let me call her." Tom said, going up the stairs.

...

Marinette frowned as she heard her phone ringing. She gently pushed Chat Noir's head off her shoulder and onto the pillow, then picked her phone off the floor. She pressed the 'answer call' button.

"Hello, Marinette!" her father's voice said cheerily.

"Hi, Papa..." Marinette said, casting a glance at Chat Noir.

"One of your friends is here to see you. When do you think you will be back from Alya's?" Tom asked.

"Um, in a few minutes..." Marinette said, completely forgetting her parents throught she was staying with Alya.

"Brilliant! I'll send her up to your room."

"What? No!"

"Um, okay... the living room."

"Oh, uh, sure. See you soon, Papa."

Marinette disconnected the line. She quietly walked over to Chat Noir and scratched behind his ear.

"Hey kitty, come on, wake up. There we go!" Marinette said, seeing Chat Noir nuzzled her hand. "Wake up, kitty."

His eyes opened and focused on her's.

"Come on, let's get up, quickly, please."

Chat Noir rolled and stood up, rubbing his eyes. He left the dolls sitting on the pillow.

"Why? Did I- did I do something wrong?"

"No, no, it's just, someone's here to see me, and I'm supposed to be at a friend's place..."

"Oh, uh, okay then."

Marinette opened the trapdoor and allowed him out. He climbed out, then felt Marinette pull softly on his tail.

"Wait, do you have somewhere to go?"

"Um, no, not really... but you don't have to worry about that."

Marinette heard someone coming up the stairs into the living room.

"Just, uh, stay on the balcony for now. Maybe Ladybug will come by."

Chat Noir hesitated, then nodded. He sat down on the chair and curled up. Marinette smiled up at him, and was about to go back into her room, when he called out to her.

"Uh, M-Marinette, could you- I have the- the, uh-"

"The dolls?" Marinette asked.

He nodded, hiding behind the fabric of the chair.

"Sure thing, kitty. Let me get them for you." she went into her bedroom and picked them up for him.

She handed them to him and waved, shutting the trapdoor behind her.

Marinette slid down into her bedroom and changed out of her pyjamas. She opened the trapdoor on the floor and went into the living room, seeing someone sitting on the sofa, scrolling through her phone. Marinette frowned, not recognising the back of the girl's head.

"Hi, do I know you from somewhere?" Marinette asked.

The girl turned around, and Marinette froze when she recognised the girl to be Jade.

"Hi, Marinette. Yes, you know me from last night, remember?"

"No, I'm sorry, but I don't know you. Maybe you have the wrong person-"

"Oh, no, I'm quite sure I do have the right person." Jade stood up, cocking her head to the side. "I know who you are, and I'm sure you don't want people to know."

"I'm... Marinette?" Marinette said, pretending to be confused.

"Yes, but you are also someone else."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Marinette said.

"Really?" Jade raised an eyebrow. "Alright. Let's go into your room, I want to talk."

"What? No!"

"Why? Hiding something?"

"No!"

"Then let me in." Jade said.

Marinette opened her mouth then shut it. She climbed up the ladder and opened the trapdoor, allowing Jade into her bedroom.

"Thank you, Marinette." Jade said, standing up. Jealousy flashed across her face, but it was quickly hidden by a neutral expression.

"What did you want to talk about?" Marinette said, crossing her arms.

Jade closed the trapdoor and looked into Marinette's eyes.

"I know you're Ladybug."

"Wha- no! I'm not!"

"Really? Is it just a coincidence that you look up Dupofin's daughter the same night Ladybug bumped into me? I'm not stupi-"

"Fine!" Marinette burst, hoping to trick her with a quick lie. "Ladybug asked me to look you up-"

Jade laughed. "I know a lie when I see one. Don't try that again. You don't want me to expose your identity, do you?"

"No."

"Good. So, obviously, I plan on blackmailing you with this, but I feel uncomfortable leaving the cat out of it. Do you know his identity or anything?"

"No, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

Jade rolled her eyes and climbed up the ladder, and glanced at the damp bed.

"I was going to say you have a nice place, but if your hygiene levels are this bad..." Jade let her sentence trail off.

"No! It's just because it rained last night, and I left the trapdoor open, so the rain got in." Marinette said quickly.

"I don't think you understand how rain, or gravity, works." Jade said, looking at the trapdoor on the floor that led to the living room.

"Not that trapdoor, that one." Marinette said, pointing to the trapdoor above Jade's head. She regretted it immediately.

"Oh! Do you have a balcony? This must be where you get outside as Ladybug!" Jade said as she opened the trapdoor.

"No! Don't go up there!"

"Why not?" Jade looked suspiciously at Marinette.

"Because, uh, because, I have a... stray cat there!"

Jade stared at Marinette.

"You could have said anything else, like your plans for defeating Hawkmoth were up there or something, and you choose _stray cat_."

"I panicked!"

"Of course you did... but if you panicked, you must be hiding something up here, right?"

"No!"

"Then you won't be bothered if I take a look?" Jade said, climbing out onto the balcony.

...

Chat Noir looked down at the dolls in his hands. Ladybug and Chat Noir. Chat Noir and Ladybug. In a way, they showed him that they were the perfect team. Inseparable.

Hopefully.

Chat Noir brought the dolls close to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, turning onto his side. He didn't want to let go. He never wanted to let go, but now, things just seemed more...

...real?

...dangerous?

...scary?

Chat Noir didn't want to admit it to anyone, not even himself, but he knew deep down, that he was scared. For once, he had no idea where he was going in life. His family didn't want him, and had cast him aside. But, who could blame them?

He was the one who had betrayed their trust. He was the selfish one. Look at him now, thinking about himself.

Chat Noir closed his eyes as tears started to blur his vision.

He hugged the Ladybug and Chat Noir dolls closer.

Ladybug.

She was his lifeline. His world. His heart. His everything. 

She had always been there for him. Yes, she did make mistakes. Yes, she did have flaws. But she tried to improve herself, to help others. She was smart and loyal and selfless.

Unlike him.

He wasn't loyal to her or his family. He had even considered giving Hawkmoth his ring, just so he would leave him alone. How selfish was he?

He didn't deserve Ladybug. She deserved someone better. Someone better than him.

Chat Noir frowned as he brought his knees up, curling into a ball with his tail wrapped around him. He yawned, resting his head on his knees and the fabric of the chair.

...

Jade climbed onto the balcony with Marinette right behind her.

"This is an awesome view." Jade said, seeing the sun rise in the distance.

"Yeah, it is." Marinette said, moving so that her body blocked the chair Chat Noir was on.

Jade walked to the end of the balcony, resting her arms on the railing.

"I would love to live somewh-" Jade stopped, seeing a black belt dangling slightly off the chair.

"Can you move out of the way a bit?" Jade said.

Marinette looked away and stepped out of the way, as Jade grinned at the sleeping cat.

"I love doing this!" Jade said as she walked over and crouched down beside him.

"Doing what? Waking people up?"

"No. Manipulating their dreams." Jade said, thinking.

Marinette heard Chat Noir whisper something in his sleep that sounded a bit like 'I'm sorry'. The last time he talked in his sleep, he was having a nightmare.

"No, wait, stop, let me wake him up-"

"Why? So you can spoil my fun? No thanks!" Jade said quietly.

"This isn't about your fun! He's having a nightmare!" Marinette stepped closer, about to shake him, when Jade stepped in front of her.

"Big deal, he's having a nightma-"

"It is a big deal! They really hurt him!"

"Yes, because I _really_ care about hurting him."

Marinette opened her mouth again, but Jade interrupted her.

"Does he know your identity?"

"No, bu-"

"Do you want him to know your identity?"

"No, bu-"

"There are no 'buts'. You don't want him to know your identity, so I won't tell him."

Marinette balled her hands into fists and went next to Jade, leaning on the table.

"Good." Jade raised an eyebrow. "What would hurt him the most?"

"You- you want to hurt him?"

"Well, yes. Didn't I make that obvious?"

"You did..." Marinette buried her face in her hands. Because of her, Chat Noir's nightmare would be way worse.

"Exactly. Oh, I think I know what would hurt him." Jade said, looking at the dolls in his arms.

"Chat Noir, did you hear what Ladybug said when she was talking about you the other day?" Jade whispered into his ear.

His cat ear twitched, showing her he was registering her words.

"She said that her partner was the most amazing, nice, trustworthy person she knew. She said that she had secretly loved him, too."

His face subconsciously beamed with pride, his heart fluttering.

"And then she told me she lied about everything she said."

His face fell and he felt his heart break.

Jade leaned back and spoke to Marinette.

"It is so much easier to do it to the cat in comparison to Dupofin."

"You do this to- to Dupofin?"

"Yep. I know all his insecurities and fears. I also know what makes him happy, but it's so much more fun putting people in their nightmares."

Marinette looked away, and felt terrible when Chat Noir sniffed.

"So, what else makes him upset? What's he doing on your balcony in the first place?"

Marinette pressed her lips together.

"If you don't want to say, that's fine. I'm sure Paris would love to know who Ladybug is."

"No, no, fine! He knows who Hawkmoth is-"

"He knows who Hawkmoth is, and you and him are just chilling over here?" Jade said, clearly unimpressed.

"He's trying to wrap his head around the fact that Hawkmoth is someone he knows."

"So, Hawkmoth is someone he personally know."

"Yes."

"Who?"

"I don't know who Hawkmoth is, I just know his relation to Chat Noir."

"And, what's his relation to Chat Noir?"

"Hawkmoth is his... father."

"That must've hurt!"

"So please, please don't tell anyone."

"I won't, if you listen and do as I say." Jade said, looking at Chat Noir. "And, I'm guessing Chat Noir left his family, and turned to Ladybug."

Marinette nodded, looking away, ashamed of herself.

"Poor kitty." Jade leaned in again and whispered in his ear.

"Ladybug doesn't trust you, does she?"

Chat Noir shook his head slightly, his eyes shut tight.

"Hawkmoth, your father, doesn't trust you either, does he?"

Chat Noir's bottom lip quivered and he whimpered.

"Are you a traitor? A stray? Ladybug thinks you are."

Chat Noir shook his head softly, starting to talk in his sleep again.

"N-no..." he whispered.

"Ladybug hates you. You betrayed your family, they hate you, too."

"No, please... no..." he said, tears becoming visible on his cheeks.

Jade smirked. She stood up and looked at Marinette.

"Come on, let's go. We'll come back to the kitty later."

"So you- you're just going to leave him like this?" Marinette asked, appalled.

"Yes, and if you know what's good for you, you'll leave him too." Jade leaned in and whispered in his ear again. "Everyone should leave this stupid cat. No one wants him."

"No... no... please... no..."

"Stop begging. You look even weaker than you already are." Jade said.

Chat Noir whimpered in response.

Jade left the balcony and pulled Marinette into her bedroom.

"Wait here." Jade said as she wrote something on a piece of scrap paper.

She went onto the balcony again and left it on the table in front of Chat Noir, who was now crying in his sleep.

Jade went back into Marinette's bedroom and shut the trapdoor.

"What was that?" Marinette asked.

"Something that's going to break his heart." Jade replied, grinning.


	7. Chapter 7

"I really don't see how you can be so mean to someon-" Marinette started, following Jade into the living room.

"That's rich, coming from you." Jade replied.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Remember the other day when you yelled at him in front of all those cameras? Or, have you already forgotten?"

Marinette looked away, as the horrible guilt she had felt came flooding back.

"He said it was fine..."

"Yes, because you breaking his heart and destroying his self esteem in front of pretty much the whole of Paris is definitely _fine_." Jade said, rolling her eyes.

"Let me help him, then!" Marinette burst as she clenched her jaw.

Jade cocked her head to the side, a small smile bringing the corners of her mouth up.

"Why?"

"Because- because, he deserves-"

"He deserves what? You? The person who has constantly rejected him?" Jade asked.

"What is this about? This can't just be about Chat Noir." Marinette said as she balled her hands into fists.

"I don't know what this is about. But so far, it looks like it's been about you. It's always about you, isn't it? _Ladybug saved the day again! Ladybug saved Paris from the bad guys!_ That's what everyone says, right? Chat Noir never gets any of the credit, does he?" Jade said, her emotions hidden.

"If you're so defensive about him, why did you want to hurt him?" Marinette snapped back.

Jade froze. Why did she want to hurt him, when she related to him so much?

"I- just- he- he needs to know what it feels like. It'll make it hurt less in the end." Jade said, sick memories of her childhood causing her eyes to water.

_Causing her eyes to water._

No.

Not again.

Never again.

Jade's mind was screaming at her to get out of there.

To run.

To escape.

Again.

"What do you mean?" Marinette asked, snapping Jade out of her thoughts.

"I mean- I mean- I, uh,-" Jade stuttered.

Marinette's gaze softened slightly. "If you need help-"

"No! I don't need help! Not from someone like you." Jade snapped at her.

"No, really, it's fine if you want help-" Marinette said stepping forward.

As an instinct, Jade's hand slapped forward, hitting Marinette's face, causing Marinette to give a small screech.

"No, no, no!" Jade said as she ran out of the building.

...

Chat Noir shuddered as he got awoken by a high pitched screech coming from somewhere inside the building. He brought his hands to his eyes, seeing them glisten with tears.

He sniffed, trying to ignore the sadness that had embedded itself inside him. He looked at the table in front of him, seeing a small piece of paper he hadn't seen there earlier. It was probably something Marinette had written to him. He picked it up and read through it.

_Chat Noir, I have decided not to be your partner anymore. It would be unfair if I lied to you, so let me tell you the truth. I do not need you. I hate you._

Chat Noir's lip quivered, and he tried not to cry.

Ladybug didn't want to be his partner anymore.

Of course she didn't.

She didn't need him.

Of course she didn't.

She hated him.

Of course she did.

...

As soon as Marinette got over the fact that she had just been _slapped_ , she rushed into her bedroom, hoping Chat Noir hadn't woken up yet.

She climbed the ladder, stumbling in her rush, and opened the trapdoor onto her balcony. She saw Chat Noir about to jump off the balcony on his baton, and reached forward and grabbed his tail.

He turned, and she saw tears still streaming down his face.

"Oh, hi, M-Marinette!" he said, shooting a photo shoot smile at her.

"Don't even try it, Chat Noir." Marinette said firmly.

She saw him crumble slightly at her harshness.

"Sorry. Come down here, what's wrong?" she said as she gently but firmly pushed him onto the seat he had been sleeping on earlier.

"N-n-nothing's wrong."

Marinette picked up the piece of paper on the table and read through it herself.

"No, no! It's not true!"

"How do you know? Of course it's true." Chat Noir said, his voice breaking with every few syllables.

"Because it was written by this horrible person-"

"Ladybug's not horrible. She just said the truth." his voice was monotonous.

"No, Ladybug didn't write it, Jade did."

"Who?"

"She was this person who just came over. She made you have those bad dreams and she wrote the letter-"

"And how do you know she wasn't Ladybug?"

"Because- I- uh-"

"Exactly. It's fine, Marinette. It's not your fault. It's not Ladybug's fault, either."

Marinette frowned, thinking quickly. She took a deep breath.

"You know what, Tikki? He deserves to know." Marinette said, directing her words at the kwami hiding beneath the table. "Chat Noir, I'm-"

"Ladybug..."

"What? You- you knew?"

"No, you just said Tikki's name." Chat Noir said.

Marinette was Ladybug.

Marinette was Ladybug.

Marinette was Ladybug.

It was as if his brain stopped working, and just kept repeating those three words.

"Chat Noir? Are you okay?"

"You- she- it- I-" Chat Noir stuttered, struggling to wrap his mind around it.

"Look, it's fine if you're disappointed, bu-"

"Disappointed? Why would I be disappointed? You're one of the nicest people I know!" Chat Noir said.

"Then why are you so upset about it?"

"Because you would be disappointed with who I am..." Chat Noir whispered.

"I wouldn't ever be disappointed by you, kitty." Marinette said.

She sat down next to him and embraced him in a hug. She saw his eyes turn to the piece of paper.

"That was not written by me. You are _the_ most selfless, loving, loyal person I know, and nothing will ever change that."

Chat Noir shook his head and buried it in his hands.

"I'm not." Chat Noir's voice cracked, allowing the sadness to seep out.

"You are. All that stuff I said about you in front of the cameras a few days ago wasn't true. You are the only partner I will ever want, and nothing will ever change that, okay?"

Chat Noir hesitated, before he nodded and nuzzled his head into the crook of Marinette's neck.

"Why would you think I would be disappointing by your identity?" Marinette asked, softly stroking his cheek.

"B-b-because, I'm A-Adrien Agreste."

...

Jade slammed the door as she returned to Dupofin's house.

"Jude, is that you?" Dupofin's voice came from the kitchen, clearly startled.

"Yes!" she yelled back, trying to stop her voice from breaking.

She ran into her bedroom and slammed the door again, ignoring the sound of pots and pans clattering on the floor from the kitchen.

Jade leaned against the door and sunk down onto the floor, furious tears welling in her eyes. She remembered the last time she had cried. It had been just over thre years ago, and yet the memory still haunted her.

She and her brother had been staying with her aunt. She had been happy, of course, free from the chains that had held her mind for so long.

However, she hadn't been happy when their aunt had collapsed on the floor. Jade had frozen on the spot, while her brother, Topaz, had called an ambulance. It arrived quickly, and managed to revive their aunt. She was taken to the hospital.

Jade and Topaz had visited her the next day. Both siblings were happy their aunt had survived, but Jade felt guilt. Horrible, sickening guilt that only grew when she met the green and blue eyes of her aunt.

"I'm sorry!" Jade had cried to her aunt, the guilt overwhelming her.

"Whatever for, Jade, dear?" her aunt had said.

Jade had been about to say something, when her voice caught. She couldn't speak. She had frozen, again.

Topaz had seen an opportunity.

"She tried to kill you." he said to their aunt.

"What?" Jade and her aunt had said in unison.

Jade froze again, knowing Topaz had always been good at manipulating and turning people against her.

"Jade, you tried to kill me? How could you, after I saved you from them?" her aunt had said, anger rising withing her.

"No! I didn't!" Jade had said, in an attempt to redeem herself.

Topaz had stepped closer to her and had whispered in her ear.

"Yes, you did. I know your dirty little secret. You wanted her to die, so you would get the money and other things she left in her will."

"No!" Jade had cried.

"Yes, you did, and you know you did. Now, go, before I tell the world."

"You wouldn't..."

"Try me." Topaz had said, challenge clear in his blue eyes.

Blue eyes.

He had always been more special than her.

More important.

He always got the credit when they did something good.

Always.

She never even had a chance, next to him.

He was always their parents' favourite.

Figures, seeing all the love their parents had given him.

Figures, seeing all the scars their parents had given her.

Quite peculiar, seeing how green was the colour of jealousy.

"Exactly." Topaz had said to her. He had turned back to their aunt. "She tried to kill you."

"Get out!" her aunt had screamed at her, just as loud as Jade used to scream. "Get out!"

Some staff members had come in, unwillingly cringing at the sound of the screaming.

Topaz had looked at her.

"Run, Jade. I won't say anything more if you run. That's all I'm giving you. Time." Topaz had said.

"How could you do this to me?" Jade had said, the green of her eyes blurry due to the tears.

Topaz had shrugged. "That's life, little sis. Try it yourself. It's addictive. Like a drug."

Jade had screamed at mention of drugs.

The staff members had pulled her out of the room.

Jade had taken her chance.

She had run.

She had escaped.

Again.

Jade pulled herself out of the memory. Her glassy eyes looked out the window, where the sun was shining into her bedroom.

Just like it had in that memory.

That memory.

Topaz.

Heck, Jade hated Topaz.

Jade hated Topaz _so_ much.

Him and his blue eyes.

Him and his precious, loving family.

Him.

Just, him.

Topaz.

...

Marinette froze.

"You- you're Adrien?"

Chat Noir broke down.

"See! I told you you would be upset!"

He took his baton off his back and extended it, pushing him onto the next building. Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut? Because of him, Marinette now hated him, and it was all his fault.

Of course it was.

It's always his fault.

"Chat Noir, wait!"

He turned, seeing Ladybug chasing him.

"Chat Noir, please, let me explain! I wasn't upset at all, I was just so happy!"

"You- you were?"

"Yes! Now I know that the guy I had been crushing on for years, loves me too." Ladybug slowed down, putting her yoyo on her waist.

"You... were crushing on me?" Chat Noir asked quietly.

He allowed her to crouch down next to him. He looked into her eyes, seeing raw emotion.

"Yeah, that's why I had always stuttered around you..." Ladybug said, her cheeks reddening.

"I thought- I thought you didn't like me."

"What? Of course I liked you, I even loved you!" Ladybug said, gently embracing him in a hug again.

"You... loved... me?" Chat Noir asked slowly.

"Yes!"

"So, you don't love me anymore?" Chat Noir asked, his heart breaking.

She had found someone else.

Someone better.

Of course she had.

"No! I still love you, kitty!"

"You... love... me?"

"Yes!"

Chat Noir's heart did a flip.

Marinette, Ladybug, loved him!

"You love me..." Chat Noir whispered to himself. "And I love you..."

"Yes, kitty!" Ladybug said, giving him time to process it.

"We... we love each other?"

Chat Noir's eyes met hers.

Ladybug saw something in his eyes.

"Yes, kitty, we do..." she whispered into his ear.

He smiled as he hugged her, nuzzling his cheek beside her's. Ladybug hugged him back, but she couldn't forget what she saw in his eyes.

She saw fear.

She saw fear that she would still break his heart.

Fear that she would still break his heart again.

Again.

Jade was right, it wasn't right that she could treat him as she had in the past.

Ladybug made a mental note to herself, to fill his life with as much love as she possible could.

Because, he deserved it.

...

Jade went into the kitchen and sat down beside Dupofin.

"I did what you asked." he said as he put some potatoes on her plate.

"What?" Jade snapped, forgetting to pretend to be happy. "Oh, sorry, I was just a bit upset, it was just... puberty, you know..."

"Yes, I know. I remember when I was your age. Hormones and all those emotions..." Dupofin chuckled to himself. "My parents were always getting angry with my for when I burst out. I remember the worst punishment they would give me. Can you guess what it was?"

"Uh, I don't know, no dinner before bed?" Jade suggested, putting on a convincing fake smile.

"Ha! No. The worst punishment I got was when I was almost fifteen years old. I had broken the television screen by accident, and my parents were furious! They made me do the dishes for the entire family! Can you imagine a single punishment worse than that?"

Jade could imagine punishments far worse, but kept quiet about it. Who wanted to hear about her life, anyway?

"No, father. That seems terrible!" Jade said.

"It really was... it felt like abuse, it really did. Anyway, how much broccoli do you want?"

"Just a little more than that, oh, yes, that's enough. Thank you, father." Jade said as Dupofin put some broccoli on her plate.

"No problem, Jude. Anyway, as I was saying earlier, I have signed you up for Françoise Dupont. You start tomorrow." Dupofin said.

"Oh, thank you, father!" Jade said, as if she was grateful.

In a way, she was ungrateful, half hoping he wouldn't be able to get her a place.

And, in another way, she was grateful she had someone who actually cared about her.

...

Ladybug scooped Chat Noir up in her arms and carried him back to her balcony. She took him inside her bedroom and allowed him to get comfortable on the chaise before she spoke to him about his father being Hawkmoth. She knew it would hurt him, but she wanted to get it out of the way.

She dropped her transformation, and Chat Noir did the same.

Tikki brought a cookie over to Plagg, and they sat on the chaise, carefully watching Marinette and Adrien.

"So, your father is Hawkmoth..." Marinette said.

"Yeah."

"And Mayura would then be..."

"Nathalie."

"Oh..."

"So, are we going to... fight them?" Adrien asked.

"If we have to, then yes. But, only when you're ready." Marinette said, sitting down beside him.

"What's going to happen to me?"

"I- don't know... but you can stay here until... uh..."

"Until they get taken away." Adrien said monotonously.

"Yes." Marinette said. "But, we don't need to think about that."

"We do, because it's going to happen, and I'm just... not going to know what to do." Adrien said as he looked at the floorboards.

"It doesn't matter whether you know what to do or not, because I promise, no matter what, it's going to be fine."

"How do you know?" Adrien said, smiling softly at her.

"Because, I just do." Marinette said, holding his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"We have school tomorrow, right?" Adrien asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yes. Do you think... your father or someone will show up?"

"I don't think so. He probably doesn't want to risk me telling people his identity."

"Speaking of identities, there's someone I need to tell you about. Her name is J-" Marinette started, before she was interrupted.

"Adrien?" Sabine asked, poking her head above the trapdoor.

"Oh, yeah, that's me! Hi!" Adrien said quickly.

"Hi. Marinette, you didn't tell us you had a friend over. But, Adrien, you're welcome to stay, just please tell us in advance next time." Sabine gave him a friendly smile.

"I will."

"Thank you. Would you two like to come down for some food?"

Adrien and Marinette nodded and stood up, following Sabine down into the living room.

...

"Sir, I am able to track Adrien's phone. It looks like he's at-"

"It doesn't matter where he is at. All that matters is that he will probably be going to school tomorrow. He will read the letter and give up his miraculous." Gabriel said matter-of-factly.

"I doubt he will hand over his miracu-"

"He will. I'm sure of it." Gabriel said.

Nathalie sighed, seeing no use in arguing with him.

"Very well. Will the letter be put in his locker?"

"Yes, and I expect you to get it there by tomorrow morning."

Nathalie sighed again, and took the letter he had already written.

"I'll go tonight. But, wouldn't it be easier to just ambush him again when he sleeps? If we come up with a better plan-"

"Go now, and put the letter in his locker. We will come up with a better plan if there is time. Go." Gabriel said.

Nathalie sighed once more.

...

"Thank you so much for letting me eat here, you really have no idea how much it means to me." Adrien said, helping Marinette's parents wash up.

"It was no problem!" Tom said, happily embracing Adrien in a hug.

"Woah, Papa, I think you're going to choke him!" Marinette said jokingly.

"Oh, sorry. So what's the plan for today?" Tom asked.

"Oh, we, uh..."

"We were going to meet up with some other friends in the park." Adrien said.

"Would they like some fresh pastries? We baked a whole new batch this morning."

"No thank you, Papa. We'll just be going now." Marinette said, pulling Adrien towards to door. "Wait, can he stay for the night?"

Sabine looked uneasily at Tom.

"Will your father be okay with it?" Sabine asked.

Adrien admired the floorboards while Marinette spoke up to answer the question.

"His father has already said he can stay with us, if that's okay with-"

"Of course it's okay with us, Marinette! You two have fun. Remember school is tomorrow, so make sure you have everything ready." Tom said, opening the door for them.

"We will. We'll see you later." Marinette said as she walked out into the hallway.

Adrien followed her, waving to Marinette's parents. The two teens went outside, and paused.

"Are we going to the park?" Marinette asked.

"Can we?"

"We can do whatever you want to do, kitty."

"I just- I just want something to distract me from the whole 'my-family-is-a-bunch-of-miraculous-holders-and-I-had-no-idea' thing."

"I can do that." Marinette said, grinning. She took out her phone and looked at it. "How about we get ourselves some of André's ice cream?"

Adrien smiled at her. "I think that would be perfect."

...

Lila sat on the park bench, her jaw clenching tightly with anger as she saw Marinette and Adrien sharing an ice cream, two bags full of clothes beside them.

"You were supposed to drive her away from him."

Lila almost jumped at the sudden voice, but covered it quickly. She looked behind her, seeing Gabriel Agreste sitting in a car, looking straight ahead.

"I will. School is tomorrow, and I have a pl-" Lila started

"No."

"No? I thought you wanted me to-"

"There is has been a change in plans. I want you to drive everyone away from Adrien, rather than Marinette. And, when I say everyone, I mean everyone."

"Including me?"

"Yes. Make him as alone as possible."

"Why would you want me to do tha-"

"You will not ask questions, you will just do. I know what is best for Adrien, and if you want him, you will do as I say." Gabriel said, his voice harsh.

Lila closed her eyes and sighed. She reopened them, and looked at Adrien.

"Very well. By the end of tomorrow, your son will be alone."

"Good. One more thing."

"Yes?"

"He's not my son anymore."

Lila turned around, bewildered, and saw the car drive away. She looked back at Adrien, and then to Marinette. She stood up, and walked over to them.

"Hey, Marinette." Lila said, looking at Marinette.

"Hi, Lila." Adrien said, but he was completely ignored.

"What do you want, Lila?" Marinette asked.

"I just wanted to tell you that I've forgiven you."

"What? What did Marinette do?" Adrien asked, confused.

"I didn't do anything, Adrien. Lila's just lying, again. What a surprise." Marinette said, leaning back on the bench she and Adrien were sitting on.

"I'm not lying, I really have forgiven you. But, by the end of tomorrow, you will be surprised." Lila said, before turning around and walking away.

Marinette stared into space, trying to work out what Lila was talking about. Tomorrow was the first day of school, so Lila was probably planning on framing her. Marinette would have to be extra careful, and make sure to lock her locker and keep an eye on her stuff.

"Marinette? Do you know what that was about?" Adrien asked, looking at her face.

Marinette didn't respond, and continued to stare into space. Adrien frowned.

"Marinette? Are you okay?"

Marinette was still silent. She looked up into the sky, seeing a dark purple butterfly flying across the sky.

"Adrien, I- uh, have to go, bye!" Marinette said, running off to transform. She had completely forgotten that their identities had been revealed to one another.

Adrien bit his lip, trying hard to ignore the hurt he felt in his gut as Marinette ran away from him. Had he done something wrong? He probably had. Hopefully if he apologised, Marinette would forgive him, right?

Adrien ran after Marinette, and followed her into an empty alleyway. He saw a flash of red light, meaning that Marinette had transformed into Ladybug. Was she that desperate to get away from him?

No, maybe she had just seen an akuma, but that doesn't explain why she hadn't told him. She knew he was Chat Noir, so maybe... maybe she just wanted to be away from him? Adrien stepped forward and was about to talk to her when she gasped.

"Adrien! What are you doing here? Did you- did you see me transform?" Ladybug asked, her hands on her yoyo.

"But, I already know who you are-"

"You what?" Ladybug almost yelled at him.

"Yeah, r-remember? We revealed ourselves." Adrien said, his eyes starting to water.

"What? Oh, right! Adrien, I am so, so, so sorry! I just forgot because I was so used to nobody knowing!" Ladybug stepped towards him.

"So, you're not upset with me?"

"No, no, of course not, kitty!" Ladybug said. She frowned when she heard a scream coming from somewhere. "Come on, time to transform."

Adrien nodded, brushing away the small tears that had formed.

"Plagg, Claws Out!"

Chat Noir and Ladybug jumped on top of the building they had been hiding behind.

...

Nathalie made the most of the akuma's distraction. She slipped the brooch on and held the letter in her hand, careful not to crease it.

"Duusu, Spread My Feathers!"

Mayura ran in the shadows and approached Françoise Dupont. Looking to her right, she saw Ladybug distracting the akuma, while Chat Noir crept up behind, his cataclysm in hand.

There was no way he would give up his miraculous just after reading a letter, but Gabriel just didn't seem to understand.

That didn't matter, though.

Mayura would put the letter in place, and then go back to the Agreste mansion. Then, she would speak to Gabriel, and remind him of how important family is.

How important they all were to each other. She and Gabriel would come up with a genius plan that would unite their whole family, including Emilie and Adrien.

Hopefully, Mayura would be able to convince Gabriel to rethink his decision about leaving Adrien, even if it meant they came up with a plan that meant scaring Adrien so badly that he ran back with his tail between his legs.

A cry of 'Miraculous Ladybug' snapped Mayura out of her thoughts. She looked to where the voice came from, and saw both Ladybug and Chat Noir looking straight at her.

Mayura panicked and jumped into one of the classrooms and made her way to the locker room. She looked at each of the identical lockers and frowned.

"Duusu, Fall My Feathers."

Duusu appeared and looked at Nathalie, unsure of what she was supposed to do.

"You can move through solid objects, so go through all the lockers until you find the one that belongs to Adrien." Nathalie explained, peering out the door to make sure no one was coming.

"Can we read the letter he wrote? I'm sure it's super emotional!" Duusu said, eyeing the letter in Nathalie's hand.

Nathalie considered it for a moment. She nodded, and unfolded the letter, holding it out so that both she and Duusu could read it.

"No! He's going to be so upset! Please don't let him read it, Miss Nathalie!"

Nathalie was tempted to rip the letter up and throw the scraps into Gabriel's face, she really was.

But, she could see things happening the way Gabriel had intended, if Adrien did what Gabriel had predicted.

"Duusu, find Adrien's locker."

"No! You can't do that to him! He'll be so upset!"

"And then he'll get akumatised, and he will defeat Ladybug, and then he'll be happy. Do as I say. Find his locker. Now."

Duusu frowned and flew through the lockers, looking at the names written on books in the lockers. She stopped when she saw Adrien's name, and recognised the bag inside the locker. Duusu opened the locker door from the inside, and frowned as Nathalie put the letter inside it. Nathalie then shut the locker door, but didn't bother locking it.

"Come on, let's go. Duusu, Spread My Feathers!"

Mayura left the school, and frowned as she saw people film her run.

...

"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug cried, throwing her Lucky Charm in the air. Ladybugs swarmed around Paris, creating a stunning sight for she and Chat Noir.

"It's nowhere near as miraculous as you, M'lady." Chat Noir said, landed beside her.

"Back to the flirting, are we, kitty? You must be feeling better." Ladybug smiled at him.

"I always feel better when I'm with you." Chat Noir replied.

Ladybug didn't respond, and seemed to be squinting at something. Chat Noir followed her gaze, and felt his heart drop when he saw Mayura. He stumbled slightly, and looked back to Ladybug.

"What's she doing at our school?" Ladybug muttered.

She ran towards the school, Chat Noir silently following her. They stopped on the roof of the bakery, looking for where she had gone, then spotted her running away. Ladybug sighed and narrowed her eyes in Mayura's direction.

"She's too far ahead. We won't be able to catch up with her."

"But, we do know where she's going, right?" Chat Noir asked, his voice shaking. "S-so, we can, you know..."

Ladybug glanced at Chat Noir, making no attempt to hide her worry.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes." Chat Noir said a little too quickly.

"I can tell you're not really ready. We have the upper hand here, so you don't need to rush yourself."

Chat Noir hesitated, then nodded.

"Good. Come on, kitty." Ladybug said.

She and Chat Noir detransformed and climbed into Marinette's bedroom.

Marinette heard a ping from her phone, and opened it, finding several texts from Alya. Marinette called her, and the two girls launched an in depth conversation about guacamole, while Adrien improved his drawing skills.

...

Lila rolled the pencil around in her hand, thinking. Marinette had been easy to frame, as she was quick to accuse Lila of everything, but Adrien would be harder. He was more reserved and calm. There would be no test tomorrow, so no chance to slip some answer sheets in his bag.

Maybe, she could plant something in his locker? It would have to be valuable, and well known to the whole class. Something like... her fox pendent?

No, that would be too obvious.

But maybe, obvious was the way to go.

Perhaps Lila could add it little 'decoration' to the classroom, on behalf of Adrien. Spray paint would be easy, and is bound to get him in lots of trouble, but might not turn the whole class against him.

Lila remembered a conversation she had had with Alya not to long ago.

_"So, what were you first thoughts about me?" Alya asked._

_"I thought you were someone extremely keen on meeting her idol."_

_"And her idol is..." Alya urged on._

_"Ladybug, of course!"_

_"Yes! So, what was your first thoughts about... Marinette?" Alya asked, out of genuine curiosity._

_"I don't mean to insult her, but she did seem a bit... attached... to Adrien."_

_Alya snorted. "You could say that again. They are_ so _destined to be together, though!"_

_Lila narrowed her eyes, but kept on smiling._

_"I can just imagine how awesome their wedding would be!" Lila said, bringing her hands together._

_"I know, right! But can you believe that Marinette had originally hated Adrien?" Alya said, grinning at Lila's shocked expression._

_"No way! How'd that happen?"_

_"There was this whole thing about Adrien putting chewing gum on her seat. He didn't actually, though, he's a really nice guy."_

_"Uh, duh, Alya! So who_ did _put the chewing gum on her seat?"_

 _"It was Chloe... she and Marinette have such a..._ delightful _history..." Alya said._

Chewing gum. That would work.

Lila looked at an untouched packet she had on her desk. She slipped on gloves and wiped the packet, making sure there were no fingerprints on it.

Tomorrow, Lila would have to wake up early if she wanted to get to the classroom and locker room before everyone else.

How fun.

...

"Do you know how stressful that was?" Marinette asked, falling back onto her chaise.

"What was?" Adrien asked, mashing the buttons as he played a videogame.

"Alya was telling me that Nino was having some sort of allergic reaction to guacamole, and she was literally _telling me to order flowers_ for his funeral. And I could hear Nino in the background laughing, so I told Alya, and I think she started tickling him or something, and then Nino vomited the guacamole all over her!"

"That's, um... ew..."

"Exactly! And then Alya starts thinking that she also has an allergy to guacamole, and they both start laughing. I sent her the vomit emoji and she starts complaining that the sick was not green enough, and I tell her that I didn't know what the vomit looked like, so she _sent me a picture_ , and- no, wait, let me send it to you..."

"Wait, what? No!" Adrien cried, hearing a vibration from his phone.

Marinette snatched his phone, and set the photo she had just sent him to his home screen.

"No, Marinette! That's gross!" Adrien whined.

Marinette flipped the screen around, grinning when Adrien gagged slightly at the picture.

"Hey, change it back!"

"Nope. You're going to have to deal with the tomorrow. Do you know why?" Marinette asked.

"Why?" Adrien asked, getting suddenly suspicious.

"Because your phone's out of battery."

"No!" Adrien whined again, seeing his phone turn off due to the lack of power.

"You're going to have such a nice wake-up call when you look at your phone it the morning, aren't you, kitty?"

"You're evil..."

"Oh, you don't really think that." Marinette said, putting the charger into his phone.

"I do. I totally do." Adrien flopped onto the chaise, trying to get the image of Nino's vomit out of his mind. "How were you _not_ grossed out by that picture?"

"That picture was nothing in comparison to some of the things I've seen."

"And, what have you seen?"

"Have you seen Manon after she finishes eating? She tends to run around and hang upside down, so sometimes her food doesn't stay down. Her vomit is-"

"Oh no, please don't..."

"Chunky-"

"No! I'm not going to hear this! Not even Plagg talks about stuff like that!" Adrien said as he covered his ears.

"Speaking of the kwamis, where are they?" Marinette looked around the room, and spotted Tikki and Plagg on her bed. "They're fine."

Adrien looked back to the computer screen, which had been paused.

"How about I show you how to completely destroy the other player?" Marinette asked.

"You wouldn't need to teach me, I already know how!"

Marinette almost snorted. "How about you show me, then?"

She picked up the controller and passed it to Adrien, and got another for herself from her desk.

Eight games later, Marinette was smiling as she beat Adrien again. Adrien sighed and let his head fall back.

She was easily beating him, and they both knew it. Adrien thought about how he could beat her using... well, it wasn't cheating. There were no rules that said you couldn't distract your opponent.

Adrien knew that for a fact.

He had checked.

Several times.

"You know, if you lose one more time, I will have beaten you ten times in a row." Marinette leaned in close to his face, smirking. "How do you feel?"

"In love..." Adrien muttered.

Marinette slid back into her seat, a faint blush playing on her cheeks. Her blue eyes were wide and didn't seem keen on focussing on one spot for more than a second.

She seemed pretty distracted.

Brilliant.

"Come on, one more game. I may have a little trick up my sleeve." Adrien said, one of his eyebrows raised.

"No cheating, right?"

"Nope." Adrien's face showed complete innocence. "No cheating at all."

"Good."

Marinette pressed start and grinned as she brought Adrien's health down in a couple of blows.

She didn't notice Adrien look at her with pure adoration in his eyes. Nor did she see him shift closer and give her a peck on the cheek.

She did feel it, however.

Marinette squeaked and almost dropped her remote. Adrien took his chance and quickly smashed the buttons, his tongue sticking out slightly from the effort.

"Boom! I win!" Adrien cheered.

"You cheated! And you said you wouldn't!" Marinette whined.

"It wasn't cheating to distract your opponent with kisses. I checked." Adrien said smugly.

"No! Okay, one more gam-"

"Nope. I'm finished."

"What? That's not fair! One more game! Just one!"

"Nope. I rest as a champion." Adrien leaned back.

"Wha- bu- no- we- I- you- ugh!" Marinette's face was almost as red as her suit now.

Adrien laughed and looked out of the window, seeing the darkness look back at him.

He shivered, unable to shake the fear away.

Marinette put her controller on the table and looked at him.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong."

Marinette took the controller out of his hands and put it beside her's on the table. She stood up and went to the window, looking outside for a moment before looking back at Adrien.

"They're not out there. You don't need to worry." Marinette said.

"That's like what you said last night, and they still came. How do you know they're not going to come back?"

"Because, this time... the kwamis will be able to keep a look out for us."

Adrien looked at the kwamis, and saw then smile encouragingly at him.

"But, I don't need to sleep. I'm not tired."

Marinette made her way to the chaise and sat down.

"Oh really?"

Adrien nodded his head, looking right at her, eyes gleaming with confidence.

"Okay then." Marinette stepped behind her room divider as Adrien looked away, giving her privacy.

A few minutes later, Marinette, in her pyjamas, was lying on her bed looking at her phone, while Adrien was still sitting in the middle of the room. He narrowed his eyes at her.

He would not get tired. Well, he was already tired, but that wasn't the point.

He wouldn't _show_ he was tired.

Yep.

Adrien glanced back at Marinette, who was now openly yawning.

_Damn you, contagious yawns._

Adrien clenched his jaw.

 _He will_ not _yawn..._

And, he yawned.

"Ha! I told you you were tired!" Marinette burst, a giggle coming out of her mouth.

"Technically, you just said 'oh really', you didn't say I was tired." Adrien said.

Marinette narrowed her eyes back at him. "Simple technicalities."

"But still..." Adrien said. "Where did you put the bags?"

"I think I dumped them in that pile over there." Marinette pointed to the corner of the room.

"Oh yeah, thanks for _dumping_ my new stuff."

"You're welcome!" Marinette replied pleasantly.

Adrien rolled his eyes and went behind the room divider, changing into the pyjamas he and Marinette had bought.

"I still could have paid fo-"

"Nope! I'm not going to hear it!" Marinette said, putting her phone on the table beside her bed. She watched as Adrien stepped into her view. "You look-"

"Awesome?"

"Adorable!"

Adrien blushed, looking down at his black clothes.

"You do look awesome too, though."

"Told you!" Adrien grinned.

Marinette watched as Adrien lay down on the chaise, curling up. She turned the lights off, hearing Tikki and Plagg whispering to each other on the windowsill.

"Goodnight, kitty," Marinette said.

"M-Marinette?"

"Yep?"

Marinette heard Adrien mumble something else.

"Uh, I didn't get that, could you repeat it?"

"The kid wants to cuddle with you!"

"Plagg!" both Adrien and Tikki said.

"If you wanted to cuddle, you could have just asked!"

Marinette climbed down the ladder, and walked over to her chaise. She lay down beside Adrien and felt him wrap his arms around her waist and bury his face in the spot between her shoulder and neck.

"Can you _promise_ they're not going to come this time?"

"Yes, kitty, I promise."

Marinette looked to the window, where she saw the silhouette of Plagg, Tikki and some triangular thing. She was trusting the kwamis to alert them if either Hawkmoth or Mayura was spotted, although she doubted they would make another appearance.

Marinette wrapped her arms around Adrien, bringing him closer to her. She bent down and placed a tiny kiss on his forehead.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter than usual, but I felt it was right to leave of where I did. :)
> 
> bloop

Lila walked into school, waving politely at the teachers and other students who were already there. She made her way into her classroom, and put on some gloves. She took several packets of chewing gum out, and made the gum sticky with saliva.

It took a lot of effort, but soon all of the gum was ready for use. Lila walked around the classroom, covering the seats with the stuff, sometimes spelling out people's names too. She was sure to leave Adrien's seat completely fine.

Lila left the classroom, the empty chewing gum packets hidden away in her pockets. She went into the locker room and raised an eyebrow when she saw Adrien's unlocked locker.

Well, that made her job a whole lot easier.

Lila opened the locker with her elbow, sure not to leave fingerprints. She dumped the chewing gum packets in his locker, then slammed it shut, the neatly folded piece of paper in it not catching her attention.

She turned to leave, and stopped suddenly as someone came in. The two girls met eyes for a moment, both clearly trying to hide their annoyance at being found.

"Hi! My name's Lila! What's your name?" Lila said, pushing friendliness into her voice.

"Hi, I'm Jade. I'm new here."

"Oh, that's nice. I've got to be going, sorry, maybe I'll see you around?"

Jade nodded, her black curls bouncing on her shoulders. She waved to Lila, raising an eyebrow as she walked out of the locker room. Jade waited until the door had closed, then glanced back to the locker Lila had been next to. She peered inside the locker, frowning when she saw it littered with rubbish.

...

"Come on, kitty, you can do this!"

"Yeah, I can do this!"

Adrien confidently walked outside, his eyes frantically looking around for any sign of...

No. He was _not_ going to think about them. _At all_.

He and Marinette crossed the road and walked into school, passing Rose and Juleka.

"You go ahead, I'll catch up. I just need to ask Juleka about the project." Adrien said.

Marinette nodded, and ran up the stairs to the school. She looked at the door to the locker room, seeing Lila walk out, with a... nervous expression on her face?

That didn't seem right. Lila had probably done something in there. Marinette hurried along, staying out of Lila's sight.

She went into the locker room, stopping when she saw Jade looking into Adrien's locker.

"What are you doing?" Marinette asked, pulling Jade away from the locker.

"I was just looking-"

"Yeah, right. I know yo-"

"You do not know me." Jade stepped away and walked towards the door, before having it smash into her face.

"Marinette? Oh, no! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't see you!" Adrien stammered, standing by the open door.

"Don't apologise for hurting her." Marinette muttered.

Jade glared at her, clutching her nose in her hand. There was a threat in her eyes, but Jade didn't know it was an empty threat.

She looked between the two, and realisation struck.

“I- uh, are you okay?” Adrien asked, reaching forward to Jade.

“Yeah, I’m fine… thanks... “ Jade removed her hand, frowning when she saw some blood. “I’ll be fine. Let me just get some tissue.”

Jade went to the girls’ toilets, leaving Adrien and Marinette alone.

“Don’t worry about her, really, Adrien. She’s just like Lila.”

Adrien bit his lip, clearly still feeling bad. He stepped to his locker, looking confused at the wrappers that fell out of it onto his feet.

It was just his bad luck that some other students chose to come into the locker room at that moment.

“Woah, dude, are they all yours?” Nino said, gawking at the pile.

“N-no, I ju-”

“Let me get the bin…” Kim stepped out of the locker room, coming back a few moments later with a small bin.

He, Adrien and Marinette took a few moments to put the wrappers in the bin, then they stood up. Kim took the bin back to wherever he had found it, while Nino started chatting to Alya, who had just come in.

Adrien looked around, making sure all the rubbish had been put away. He turned his head back to the locker, and picked up the folded piece of paper that lay on top of his bag. He took it and sat down, struggling to control his heart as he read the words.

Marinette sat down beside him, reading the words herself to see what had changed his mood so drastically.

_I have told you already that there is no escape, and yet you didn’t listen. This is one of the many reasons I have chosen to expel you from the Agreste family permanently._  
_It was only your reputation that got you friends. As you had seen, no one liked Chat Noir, and yet everyone loved Adrien. It was merely the Agreste in you that had appealed to people, and you no longer have that to fall upon._

_Nathalie and I are done with you being a fool, and would like to rid you from our lives. Fortunately for you, we are good people, and will not do so. Ladybug, Plagg, and everyone around you will soon see the traitorous monstrosity you are._

_I can assure you that people would have seen your bland true colours by the end of the school day, and you will be alone._

_Of course, you could change your wretched fate by giving your miraculous to me. This would truly be the least you could do. Your family has loved and nurtured you all your life, and you cannot do a simple favour for them._

_I am ashamed of you._

_I hope you know that._

_G.A._

Marinette clenched her jaw. How dare they talk to him about that!

She looked to Adrien, seeing him clench his eyes tight, willing himself not to cry.

“Adri-”

“I’m fine!” Adrien cried, getting the attention of everyone around him.

He panicked, and ran into the boy’s toilets. Marinette tried to follow, but couldn’t.

…

Hawkmoth felt it.

He felt the anger and hatred and sadness and loneliness brewing from the boy hiding in the toilets.

Hawkmoth looked to the fluttering akumas, watching them disperse as Nathalie stepped forward.

Their eyes met.

“Now?”

“No. We need to let it brew. Miss Rossi needs to do as I told her first.”

Nathalie nodded, looking back down to his feet.

…

Marinette took out her phone and called Adrien, hoping he would pick up, but he didn’t. Her eyes moved around worriedly, seeing people walking to their classes.

“There you are, girl!” Alya grabbed Marinette’s wrist and pulled her forward.

“Wait, no- I”

Alya shook her head through Marinette’s spluttering.

“We’re presenting first, remember? And, if I remember correctly, _someone_ made a mess of one of the sheets, so we need to redo some.”

Alya tossed a glance at Nino, before turning back to Marinette and pulling her to the classroom. The girls froze when they were about to sit down, staring at the mess on their seats.

“Is that… chewing gum?” Alya said, hesitantly prodding one of the blobs. She retracted her arm straight away. “It is!”

“What’s up?” Nino asked, stopping when he saw the gum.

Several other students came in too, similar expressions of disgust and confusion plastered on their faces.

“Students, please sit down now. First presenting is Alya’s group.” Miss Bustier said, leaning on her desk slightly. She looked at the students, unaware of the gum.

“Miss, we currently cannot do that due to… a mess on our seats.” Max said.

Miss Bustier frowned and leaned over Chloe and Sabrina’s desk, her smile turning into a grimace.

“Was it like this before yo-” Miss Bustier started, before being interrupted by Chloe.

“Yes, my toilet is 24-karat! No, I will not give it to you just because you gave me a 24-karat sink! You’re fired!” Chloe yelled into her phone, before throwing it to Sabrina.

Chloe sat down on her seat with her chin held high, ignoring the protests of her classmates. She felt the blobs of gum stick to her, and panic flashed through her.

“Ew! Who would do this to me!”

“It wasn’t just you, it’s on everyone’s seats!” Alix said, her arms crossed.

“No, actually, it’s not…” Nino said, eyebrows creased. “Adrien’s seat is fine…”

“Could he have done this?” Kim asked.

“No!”

“Maybe?”

“He could have…”

“He would never!”

The class erupted into protests, before Miss Bustier quietened them.

“The only evidence that points to him is that his seat is empty. Someone could easily have done this to him.” Miss Bustier said.

The class went silent, before Kim spoke up again, quieter than last time.

“He had chewing gum packets in his locker.”

Several heads snapped towards him, cogs working in each of their heads.

"Like, _loads_ , probably enough to hold this much gum." Kim gestured to the classroom.

“No one else could have put it in, though, because lockers are locked and stuff, right?” Alya asked, receiving several nods.

Miss Bustier breathed in sharply. “Where is he?”

“He went to the toilet.”

“I’ll get him.” Marinette said, leaving the room before anyone could argue.

“Does she know he went into the boys’ toilets?” Alya asked.

Nino shrugged.

“That hasn’t stopped her before…”

…

Adrien scrunched the paper in his hand, and left the safety of the toilets. He sat down on the bench, and tried to calm his breathing before it got too hard to do so.

“Agre- Adrien?”

His head perked up, seeing the girl he had seen earlier.

“Yeah, that- it’s just Adrien. Not Agreste.”

Jade looked at him, seeing the red in his eyes.

“Have you been crying?”

“No.” Adrien said, looking at his feet. “Sorry about what happened with the door…”

“Don’t worry about that, it’s all fine.” Jade said.

She looked at the paper in his hand, and curiosity got the better of her. She pried it from his hands with little effort, and skimmed through the words.

“You’re Chat Noir.” Jade stated.

“No.”

“It says right here, that you’re Chat Noir.”

Adrien was silent, bowing his head in shame.

“And your father’s… Hawkmoth…”

Adrien again made no response.

“I sort of know how you feel.” Jade said helpfully.

“You do?” Adrien asked, the green of his eyes standing out from the red surrounding it.

“To be stabbed in the back by a family member who was never particularly pleasant in the first place? Yeah, I know how that feels.” Jade sat down next to him. “What I’ve done… don’t go down the road I did. But, just remember, that he doesn’t define you. Only _you_ can define you.”

Adrien nodded.

“So, you know what happened to me. What happened to you?” Adrien looked at her, a thrill running through him as he realised they both shared similar problems.

“I-” Jade started.

Marinette burst into the locker room, the worried frown she had been wearing forming into a look of anger and hatred.

"What are you doing with her? She- she's not good, Adrien." Marinette said, pulling him away from Jade by his wrist.

"What do you mean? Jade's helping me!" Adrien protested.

"No, she's probably just manipulating you or something-"

"Please, Marinette, she really was helping!"

Marinette clenched her jaw and stared at him.

"How?"

"Well, she understands a lot of-"

"I understan-"

"Do you?"

Marinette took a step back.

"What do you mean, do I understand you? Of course I do! I've been helping you through all this! It's not like she knows... what we've been through." Marinette said, referring to their identities.

"Uh, actually, she knows..."

"You told her?"

"She worked it out by herself! I didn't mean for her to find out!" Adrien said, feeling as helpless as he was sure he was, seeing at the glares the girls were throwing at each other.

"Just because she knows who we are, she understands what you've been through? No, Adrien, no. I understan-"

"Marinette, you don't!" Adrien cried, tears brimming in his eyes. "I-I'm s-sor-"

"What's she got that I haven't?" Marinette almost snarled.

"She just... unders-"

"Again, Adrien, I understand!" Marinette threw her hands in the air.

"No, you don't! You have everything, Marinette! A loving family... loads of friends... people you know you can trust ... you don't need to wear a mask to get people to know the real you... you don't understand..."

Adrien looked at the floor.

Marinette glared again at Jade, before looking back down to Adrien, who was sitting down again, his face wet with tears.

Of course she understood how he felt! She had helped him so much! Well, if he wasn't grateful for her, she wouldn't be there for him.

She turned and walked out of the locker room, slamming the door as she left.

Jade looked to Adrien. This was her fault. If she hasn't gotten involved, none of this would have happened.

"Adrien, I'm sorry. This- this is my fault. You have something good here with… some of your friends. I'm not going to get in the way of that." Jade said, walking towards the door.  
"No, Jade, ple-"

"Don't worry about me, Adrien. You won't see me again, so don't look. We... we should stay apart, or I'll just mess this up further somehow-"

"How?"

"I just do, okay? I'm sorry. Just forget about me, and try to fix the stuff with... your father. Your kwami will be there for you." Jade paused. “Don’t let people push you around and guilt you into doing stuff. But, you can do this, with the right people, and her and stuff...”

Jade left the room, and Plagg hesitantly flew out of Adrien's bag.

"You heard her, kid. You can do this, I know you can."

Adrien nodded. He didn't know what 'this' was, so he assumed Plagg was talking about class. He rubbed his eyes, taking a moment to clean his face and hands. He then made his way to the classroom, to find his classmates crowding around tables in groups, standing up. When they heard the door open, they all turned to him.

Adrien was used to people watching him. He was used to people staring at every part of him, but this...

This was something completely different.

Adrien shrunk at the sharp looks he got from his classmates.

All of them.

Including Marinette.

Her gaze was particularly venomous.

Adrien swallowed a heavy lump in his throat, hearing his head pounding angrily. He turned to Miss Bustier, seeing her disappointed face.

“I- uh- what’s going on?”

“You know what you did.” Marinette said, not looking at him.

“He might not have actually done it, he may have been framed!” Lila said, putting exaggerated worry into her words.

Marinette subtly rolled her eyes, making sure Adrien could see. She looked at him again, seeing him wilt.

“Adrien, is it true that you put chewing gum on everyone’s seats today, except yours?” Max asked.

“N-no, I didn’t-”

“Why are you stammering, do you have something to hide?” Marinette asked, unaware of the odd look Aya was giving her.

“No-”

“If you didn’t put the gum on the seats, who did?” Miss Bustier asked.

“I- I- d-don’t know-”

“Adrien, please go to the principal’s office-” Miss Bustier sighed.

“Bu-”

“Just go, Adrien. You’ve done enough.” Marinette said.

Adrien’s bottom lip quivered, and he willed himself not to cry. He turned and left the room, heading towards the office.

…

“Adrien, don’t you have school?” Sabine asked, hearing him come in.

"I- there- there was a... a mix up... it'll be fine... I- have homework..." Adrien muttered, running upstairs into the living room. He dumped his bag on the sofa of the living room.

He switched on the television, hoping he could find something to distract him from the mess he had gotten himself into.

…

Marinette smiled throughout the rest of the school day, the anger she had for Adrien only growing. She could tell the rest of the class was also annoyed with him for the gum, but they weren't as angry with him as Marinette was.

His words were echoing loudly in her mind, causing her to clench her jaw and fist.

_"Please, Marinette, she really was helping!"_

Marinette scoffed audible, gaining the attention of those around her as she fumed. _Marinette_ had helped him when he needed help. _Marinette_ understood what it was like to be a superhero!

This was all Jade's fault-

Well, no, how could it be?

Marinette had _told_ Adrien he was being tricked, and yet he chose to believe Jade rather than the person he'd known for years. Where was his loyalty? Wherever it was, it _clearly_ wasn't with her.

By the end of the school day, she was fuming as she left the school building, but managed to put on a smile as she passed people walking in the opposite direction. She refrained from slamming the bakery door open, and proceeded to walk up the stairs to the living room. She noticed the door slightly open and peeked around the edge, the anger within her going past the point of no return when she saw Adrien _watching television_.

There he was watching some childish cartoon as if he had never gotten into trouble at school, or fought with Marinette. Did she really mean that little to him?

She felt her heart shatter.

Marinette stormed into the room and ran straight into her bedroom, slamming the trapdoor so fast that she didn't see Adrien's tear stained face look up at her.

"Marinette? Are yo-"

"Okay? No, Tikki! Why would I be okay after what he did!" Marinette cried, not holding back. "How can he act as if nothing happened! I have helped him through _so damn much_ , and it's like he doesn't even care!"

"Of course he cares, Marin-"

"No, Tikki, please, don't even try to defend him. He's everything he thinks he is." Marinette fell back onto her chaise, and quickly stood up when she remembered _he_ had slept there last night.

"What do you mean, 'he's everything he thinks he is'?" Tikki questioned, following Marinette up the ladder, where she flopped onto her bed, wetting the fabric slightly with her tears.

"Like he said. He said he thinks he's a traitor, some monster who has no sense of loyalty. That's because he _is_."

"You can't really think that-"

"I do, Tikki."

"But, just think about what he's been through!" Tikki exclaimed.

"I've been through it right beside him." Marinette snapped, picking up her sketchbook and a pencil. She flipped it open and started drawing, pressing much harder than she normally would.

"Really, Marinette, do you know what it feels like to be called a traitor by those closest to you?"

"No, but maybe if he spoke about his emotions rather than bottling it up, I would."

"He's been isolated most of his lif-"

"Please, Tikki, both of us know he could if he really wanted to."

"What if he doesn't know what he's feeling?"

Marinette's pencil snapped in her hand.

"Why are you defending him? He broke my heart today, Tikki!" Marinette broke down, dropping the sketchbook and the pieces of the pencil. "I thought he loved me, and trusted me, but he clearly doesn't."

Tikki frowned, feeling the emotions of betrayal and hurt radiating off of her.

"He does love you, I'm sure of it, Marinette." Tikki said, hoping to placate her.

"How do you know? He probably loves _her_ for all I know."

Marinette stood up, throwing the stuff off her bed so she could lie down. Tikki dodged as the Chat Noir doll flew past her and landed in the bin by Marinette's desk.

"He probably doesn't even care about me at all..." Marinette sobbed.

She jumped and almost fell off the bed when she heard a yelp from the living room. She looked at the trapdoor, her reddening eyes widening as Adrien ran into her bedroom.

"There- there's an akuma-" Adrien stuttered, desperately trying to get her attention.

Marinette wiped the tears away on her sleeve so he didn't see them, and looked to where he was pointing. An akuma was fluttering towards him quickly.

"Tikki, Spots On!"

Ladybug threw her yoyo at the akuma, and de-evilised the akuma, and released it. She detransformed, then looked at Adrien and swallowed a lump in her throat, desperately hoping he would say something to her.

"Are you- are you okay? Your eyes are red..." Adrien said, as if his eyes weren't red either.

"Adrien, I- I love you... do you love me?" Her voice was a whisper, and she was relieved it didn't crack from all the emotion it held.

"Of course I love you, Marinette! You- you're everything to me! You're the nicest person ever and always forgive people when they make mistakes, you're brilliantly creative and you're clever and awesome and I just love you more than anything else in the world!" Adrien babbled.

Unfortunately, his words mixed together, so rather than hearing 'you're clever and awesome', Marinette heard-

"Clawsome?"

"What?"

"Did you call me _clawsome_?" Marinette repeated, anger seething in her.

"Wha- no-"

"You were- were you _punning_ when you were telling me you love me? Is love really a joke to you? After all that has happened, can you really not take a single moment seriously?"

"I can! I- I didn't say c-clawsome-"

"I heard you, Adrien, and I'm sure you did. I'll see you at night, since I have to spend time with you then. But until then, I don't want to see your stupid, stuck-up, smug, joke-of-a face. I thought I could trust you, but I guess I was wrong." Marinette hissed to him, backing him up against her desk.

His bottom lip quivered as it had so much recently, and he begged, he practically begged himself not to break down.

"I- I- P-Plagg, C-Claws Out-"

Chat Noir looked at her, and whimpered at the look she gave him. He climbed out onto her balcony and ran away, no stranger to the emotions of loneliness and heartbreak and guilt that filled him.

…

Two hours later, Tikki saw Chat Noir hide behind something, and then come out as Adrien. He hid Plagg, along with some cheese, in his shirt and opened the bakery door, entering the bakery. Tikki looked to Marinette, who was flicking through her phone in her pyjamas, making the occasional sniff. Tikki saw her jump slightly as Adrien came in, but Marinette then resumed whatever she had been doing.

"M-Marinette?"

"What?"

"D-do you know where the- the clothes you- I- we... bought the other day are?"

Marinette looked at him. He really didn't care about her, did he? He was using her - he had to be, or else they would have made up by now.

She pointed with her foot to the bag in the corner of the room.

Adrien nodded and went to pick it up, frowned when he saw something in the bin. He stepped closer, his curiosity unbeatable. In the bin, the Chat Noir doll was lying with one foot dangling out, and the head lolling back further in.

Was Marinette trying to tell him something?

Was she trying to tell him that... she didn't want him? That she didn't like him?

Adrien diverted his eyes quickly, and used his sleeve to subtly wipe the growing wetness around his eyes. He changed into his new pyjamas and lay down on the chaise, emptiness growing painfully within him. He looked back up to Marinette, and opened his mouth to speak, but didn't trust his voice enough to say more than a few words.

"G-g-goodnight, M-Marinette..."

There was a pause before she responded. She switched the lights off and put her phone on the table, turning on her side so that she faced the wall.

"Goodnight, Adrien."

She was honestly surprised that her voice held together.

Adrien bit his lip.

"I- I love you..." Adrien said, his voice quivering just as much as the rest of him was.

Marinette didn't respond, no matter how much she begged herself to.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really sorry for the long wait, people...

They hadn't spoken to one another, for the whole day, until the akuma.

Sure, they had met eyes for a moment when Ladybug had to de-evilise akumas that were coming for them, but those looks quickly became sour.

Chat Noir had been the first one to talk, when they met to defeat the Dark Owl, who had been re-akumatised. Chat Noir had been there a few minutes earlier then Ladybug, and had watched the Dark Owl as he spoke to Hawkmoth, so Chat knew their plan fully.

Ladybug, who came a few minutes later, didn't.

They were on opposite sides of the stadium, where they had fought the Dark Owl the last time. Chat Noir was easily able to see his partner, due to his night vision, but Ladybug couldn't.

The Dark Owl was distracted, fiddling with some ropes, and Ladybug jumped into action.

Chat Noir, who knew what the Dark Owl's plan was, felt his heart drop.

He leapt into the stadium before Ladybug could step onto the grass. He tackled her into the stands, so neither of them made contact with the grass.

But now, the Dark Owl knew they were there.

"Welcome, Ladybug, Chat Noir!" The Dark Owl called to them, getting frustrated when they paid him no attention.

"Ladybug, don't touch the pitc-"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Ladybug snapped, retracting her arm quickly when Chat tried to touch it.

Once again, she tried to jump at the Dark Owl, who was making no attempt to hide his annoyance. Chat Noir pulled her back, and they fell onto the steps. Chat Noir wrapped his arms around her and tried to tell her that he knew what the Dark Owl's plan was, but Ladybug wouldn't hear it.

She wriggled furiously, pushing at Chat's jaw in an attempt to make him loosen his grip. She gave up and just punched him on the jaw instead, knocking his head back. She stood up and threw her yoyo towards the Dark Owl, and was about to jump at him when Chat tackled her to the ground again, tears in his eyes.

"Please, M'lad-"

"I am _not_ your Lady, and I never will be." Ladybug hissed.

"O-okay, b-but, _please_ , Ladybug, don't touch the g-gra-"

" _No_! You can't just tell me I don't understand what you're going through, and then ignore me, and then tell me what I can and can't do - you just can't! What, are you trying to be, my hero? Well, guess what, you're _not_. I don't need _you_."

She lunged at the Dark Owl, and by the time Chat had stood up, she was too close to the ground to be able to tackle into the stands. He extended his baton and jumped after her, hitting her back into the stands while his back met the grass. His baton slipped out of his hand on impact, and he dropped it several metres away.

Ladybug stood up, about to yell at him that nothing happened and he was just being bratty, when suddenly, several smooth black ropes flew out of nowhere towards Chat Noir, as such a speed that he couldn't dodge or block them. They wrapped around his limbs, contorting his body uncomfortably and allowing no movement.

The Dark Owl walked towards him, the Hawkmoth mask hovering above his face.

"Aww, is the little kitty stuck in a trap?" Hawkmoth asked through the Dark Owl.

Chat Noir tried to lean back, but the ropes kept him firmly held in position.

"I gave you _everything_ , and this is how you repay me?" Hawkmoth asked.

Chat Noir kept silent and shut his eyes tight.

"I gave you a chance to join your family after this- this _bug_ broke your heart. And what did you do?" Hawkmoth asked softly but dangerously. "What did you do? Tell me, Chat Noir."

The Dark Owl's head shook as Hawkmoth chuckled.

"You betrayed your own blood. You're a traitor, and I am sure you know that, especially after you read the letter I gave you. Did it make you sad? Did it make you angry? Did it make you lonely?"

Chat Noir shut his eyes tighter, scrunching his face as if it would make the words stop.

...

Ladybug stood up, her jaw clenching as Chat landed on the grass. Nothing happened! Ladybug was ready to shout at him for being an idiot when she stepped back, the ropes flying out like a jump scare.

She froze as they restrained Chat.

That would have been _her_ , completely vulnerable. Chat Noir had _told_ her that something would happen, and she didn't listen to him.

Wow... she was such a _great_ partner...

A strangled cry brought her back to what was happening. The Dark Owl, with the mask still hovering by his face, was clutching Chat Noir's face tightly the same way Mr Pigeon had. His mouth was moving, and Chat was looking more and more upset every second.

Ladybug called upon her lucky charm, and a small boomerang fell into her hands. She looked around, and figured out what to do.

Aiming, she threw the boomerang at the thinnest rope that Chat was hanging off of. It flew and snapped through the rope with precision then flew back to Ladybug, allowing her to catch it. Chat Noir was able to wriggle out of the other ropes after cataclysming them, then fell onto the field again.

Sensing that another set of ropes were about to fly towards him again, Ladybug threw her yoyo around him, and pulled him into the stands. As she had predicted, another set of ropes did fly out, but wrapped around the Dark Owl instead of Chat.

The Dark Owl became completely restrained, allowing the two heroes to scour his body, looking for the akumatised object.

Ladybug raised her eyebrows, but didn't manage to find where the akumatised object was, until Chat Noir literally dangled it right in front of her.

"Oh... uh- thank you, Chat Noir..."

She took the pen from his hand and snapped it over her leg, watching as the akuma flew out. She de-evilised it and threw her lucky charm into the air, seeing the ladybugs get rid of the ropes. She looked back to Chat Noir, who was picking up Mr Damocles, he met her eyes and then looked away, his hair shielding his watery eyes.

"Chat Noir, I- I'm so sorry- I didn't mean what I said- I do nee-"

"L-Ladybug... it's... fine..."

He leapt away without saying another word to her, leaving her all alone in the field. He hadn't cracked a single pun or joke, and Ladybug felt empty without him beside her. She took her yoyo and zipped away to the bakery, detransforming as she landed on her balcony.

Catching Tikki in her hand, she passed her a cookie.

"I really messed up..." Marinette whispered. "Like, I completely and utterly messed up..."

Tikki nodded slowly, her voice soft. "You did, and I don't think- I don't think a simple apology would be anywhere near enough."

Marinette lay down on her side, her arms wrapped around herself.

"I don't deserve him. He doesn't deserve someone like me... who would just be so cruel to him. He deserves better."

"That's not it, Marinette. He thinks you don't understand what it's like to be in his situation, so maybe try to understand. Build up his confidence and self esteem-" Tikki finished her cookie. "Maybe... maybe try talking to people who do understand. Jade di-"

"No, I can't talk to her. If I do, I might get... angry... again, and then there would be no way I can help him. But, I could talk to someone else... like... Kagami?"

Tikki nodded again. "That would be good - you'll probably be able to see what he's going through better. I have no way to talk to her, anyway. But, both Adrien and Kagami have strict parents, you'll be able to understand that part of him. But, be there for him either way, Marinette, whether you understand or not."

"Yeah... I really messed that bit up... Of course I don't understand what it's like... but, I can try, I guess..." Marinette muttered, sending Kagami a message, asking for them to meet as soon as possible.

Marinette then put her phone away and turned on her side, feeling her heart burn when she saw the empty chaise.

She should have said she loved him back.

She sniffed, and got up to go to the bathroom, tucking a ball in the place of her head in case her parents came in to check on her.

...

Chat Noir landed on Marinette's balcony, feeling lost. Marinette probably didn't want him at all, but where else could he go?

He couldn't just turn up at one of his friend's places without any explanation, and...

Oh yeah, they were angry with him for what he supposedly did with the chewing gum...

He bit his lip and heard his ring beep again, showing the fourth pad disappearing. He sighed and glanced around, seeing the trapdoor wide open. He leaned in, seeing Marinette's head lying on her pillow with no movement. He felt his own eyes start to dampen again, and he shut them to stop the tears from spilling, as well as the shield his eyes from the light of his detransformation.

Marinette didn't move.

He looked away and slipped inside, creeping past her bed, and down the ladder, without a sound. He lay down on the chaise and turned away, curling up on the softness.

Plagg landed by his head, and ran his paws through his hair in a comforting way, while whispering to him too.

...

Marinette went back into her room quietly, seeing Adrien curled up on the chaise his breathing holding mostly steady. Marinette assumed he was asleep, so climbed into her own bed, pushing the ball away. She lay down and clenched her fists, pure regret filling her head.

Every tear he had probably cried himself to sleep with... it was all her fault.

She was the one in the wrong.

She was the one destroying him emotionally.

She was the one doing just as much damage to him as Hawkmoth.

She was the hypocrite.

She was the one with no sense of loyalty.

She was, and he had done nothing wrong. Well, other than telling her that what she did was fine, because what Marinette did was on the _complete_ other side of the spectrum.

She had to change, soon.

Hopefully Kagami would be able to help.

She got up early just before the sun rose, then slipped downstairs, careful not to wake Adrien. She resisted the almost-overwhelming urge to take him into his hug, kiss his forehead, and tell him that things would get better, because... she couldn't lie to him. Things weren't just going to get better, with Hawkmoth or anything, and both of them knew that. The best Marinette could do was be there for the guy who'd given her his heart, and she would help him, no matter what.

She clenched her fists, remembering the horrible thoughts she'd had not too long ago.

She would turn over a new leaf.

She wouldn't be jealous or selfish.

She would put him before her, just as he did without a second thought for her.

She took her phone and called Kagami, who managed to pick up on the first ring.

"Marinette! How are you? It's good to see you."

"Hey, Kagami, it's good to see you, too." Marinette smiled down to the camera, since they were doing a video call. "How come you're up so early?"

"As Adrien may have told you, there is a fencing tournament coming up, and so I would like to practice more before it comes."

"But you're already so good at fencing!"

"That may be true, but I'll still need to sharpen my skills." Kagami said, zooming the camera out so that Marinette could see her better.

"I won't keep you for _too_ long then... I need to ask you something..."

"Go ahead, Marinette, I am happy to tell you whatever you need to know."

"Uh... okay..." Marinette bit her lip. "Both you and Adrien... you don't really get to get out of the house much, do you?"

"No, but whenever we do, it's a real thrill, some of the best moments ever, like when you and I did the competition to find Adrien!" Kagami said cheerily.

"Oh yes, that was a fun time... but, how did it feel, you know?" Marinette asked, hoping she didn't sound too suspicious, even though she was sure she did.

"The way you said that... it reminded me a lot of what a therapist might say..." Kagami said, a touch of a smile on her mouth. "But... I would say it felt quite... suffocating... to bottle everything in... that's why Adrien and I love going outside so much."

Marinette nodded along, taking a mental note of every single word. She continued asking Kagami, and Kagami was happy to fill Marinette in on everything she wanted to know.

She was sure to remember how Kagami told her that Adrien kept a photo of his mother on top of his piano in his bedroom, and how he would often take comfort in it when he was down. If Marinette was able to get that for him...

...

Adrien got up, and his eyes first went to Marinette's bed. She wasn't there, and Adrien wondered if she had even gone to sleep in her bed at all. He climbed on the ladder, and saw her ruffled sheets which hadn't been done yet. She probably wouldn't want him to do anything about it, so he climbed down the ladder and opened the trapdoor to go downstairs.

He spotted Marinette talking to someone on the phone, and stepped out of the way so that she could go into her bedroom to talk. She closed the trapdoor, nodding to the table to direct Adrien's attention to it. He saw two bowls on the counter, and he filled them both with food. He brought them over to the table and sat down, playing awkwardly with the spoon as he waited for Marinette to come back.

She didn't, and Adrien assumed that she had gone out as Ladybug, probably to just clear her head... nothing more. Probably.

Adrien started to eat, and smiled at Sabine and Tom as they came in, clearly surprised to see him up so early, with breakfast already ready.

"Adrien... you really didn't have to make us breakfast..." Sabine said, her gratitude shining brightly through her voice. Tom shared a similar awestruck expression, seeing the two bowls Adrien had left on the counter for them.

"It was the least I could do, you guys to nice stuff for me all the time, and I wanted to return the favour!" Adrien replied, picking some of his food and passing it under the table to Plagg, who was sitting quietly on his lap, giving Adrien the silent comfort he really needed.

...

Come on, how much danger would she _really_ be in? If she was quiet, they wouldn't even know she was there, and they were too busy being bad parental figures to do anything else. Probably.

And if she did get caught, she would be able to bluff her way out, or call upon her lucky charm with her yoyo, like she always did! And she would get Adrien the picture of his mother... and he would hopefully be happy!

And maybe he would forgive her, but she completely understood if he didn't. She had completely messed up everything with him... and Ladybug hoped that giving Adrien the picture would show, to both Adrien and herself, that she was trying to improve, and that she would improve. And, if she was able to land a good amount of punches on Gabriel and Nathalie too, her luck would be awesome.

Ladybug landed on a roof where you could see directly into Adrien's bedroom. Or, you would be able to see inside, if it wasn't for the black blinds. Ladybug looked around, trying to see a way to get inside, when she spotted one of the windows was slightly open. That must have been the window Adrien had used to escape, according to Tikki.

Ladybug jumped onto the wall, then threw her yoyo into the room, then slid along it like you would a zip wire. She took her yoyo and wrapped it around her waist once she had gotten inside, and looked around, not seeing the piano. She knew where the piano was supposed to be, though. She had seen it in person, and yet... it wasn't here.

She squinted around the dark room, and spotted a basketball on the floor. She saw the basketball hoop, too, and remembered a conversation she had had with Nino and Adrien a while ago.

_"And then," Nino said, "he went like this, and the ball went through the hoop in_ one go _! This guy is a_ legend _!"_

 _Nino patted Adrien on the back, while Adrien blushed and tried to protest ("I wouldn't say_ legend _...) , before Marinette interrupted._

_"Of course, you're a legend, Adrien! Who else do you know can do that? And from across half of your room, too!"_

_"I'm sure a bunch of people can... and I wasn't trying to show off or anything... I just wanted to show the guys, and you, Marinette, my piano!"_

So... Adrien threw the ball through the hoop, and the piano appeared. Ladybug could work with that.

She picked up the ball and threw it at the hoop, and completely missed. Sighing, she picked it up again, and used the climbing wall to bring her to the same level as the hoop, she _just_ got it in, and saw the floor give way, and the piano take its place.

She jumped off of the wall and walked towards it, jumping as the window she had come in through suddenly snapped shut. She ran towards it and tried to open it, but it didn't budge. Nor did any of the other windows, or the door to the bathroom.

Ladybug gasped a gasp of pure panic when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

Was she drunk or something when she decided to break into Hawkmoth's house? Because this was a very, very, _very_ bad idea.

She spotted and grabbed the picture of Emilie, then jumped onto the sofa, so whoever came into the bedroom through the door would not be able to see her. She curled up, the photo tight to her chest.

Her heart stopped for a moment when the door opened, and the voice of Gabriel Agreste rang out.

...

Adrien got worried. Ladybug would have told him if she planned on coming back later, but she didn't.

"Did she tell you anything, Plagg?"

"No, but if she is still transformed-"

"Then I'll be able to track her!" Adrien finished for him.

Plagg nodded. "No, wait, kid, lemme finish my ch-"

"Plagg, Claws Out!"

Chat Noir left Marinette's bedroom and took out his baton, and opened the tracking feature. Ladybug was... at his house?

Why would Ladybug go to his house?

Unless... unless she was taken...

Chat Noir got even more worried and vaulted his way to the Agreste Mansion, and landed on the roof. He extended his baton so that it hit the ground, then he slid down it and tried to open the window, but it was shut and didn't move.

He managed to refrain from smashing his fists against the thick glass.

Chat Noir pressed his ear up against the glass, hearing mumbles, but nothing coherent.

He squinted through the thick blinds, and made out two shadows walking around the room, occasionally crouching down, as if they were looking for something. Chat Noir looked down to his baton, and saw several messages from Ladybug.

Ladybug: Chat Noir I need you at the Agreste Mansion.

Ladybug: I will explain later, but please come.

Ladybug: Chat I know I haven't been good in anyway recently but I really need you.

Ladybug: I do need you, I can't do this without you.

Ladybug: Chat please I am so so so sorry.

Chat Noir: It's okay.

Chat Noir: I am outside. Are you inside?

Ladybug: Yes.

Ladybug: I am on the sofa.

Ladybug: I think Mayura and Hawkmoth are behind me.

Ladybug: I can't see them though.

Chat Noir: I think I can see them.

Chat Noir: Are they saying anything?

Ladybug: Just stuff like come out kitty.

Ladybug: Not important what they're saying.

Ladybug: Can you get inside?

Chat Noir: I'm trying but the window is locked.

Chat Noir: And I don't want to use cataclysm.

Chat Noir: Ladybug?

Chat Noir: Are you there?

Chat Noir: What happened?

He looked up from him baton, seeing the two shadowy figures pick something up _from the sofa_. He cringed as he heard a sharp crack, and felt the adrenaline course through him.

He positioned his claws on the underside of the window and pulled as hard as he could, and stumbled back slightly as the window cracked open. He leapt inside, seeing Mayura, Hawkmoth and Ladybug engaged in what looked like a very violent wrestling match.

It also looked like Hawkmoth and Mayura were winning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, one chapter left...


	10. Chapter 10

Ladybug took her yoyo and opened it silently, quickly typing.

Ladybug: Chat Noir I need you at the Agreste Mansion.

"Ah, Adrien, we were wondering when you would come back to us," Hawkmoth said, his footsteps echoing slowly but consistently around the cold room.

Ladybug: I will explain later, but please come.

She waited, but there was no reply. He was probably still angry and upset, but she knew she needed him and she wanted to make that clear.

Ladybug: Chat I know I haven't been good in anyway recently but I really need you.

"No need to hide, son. Mayura and I just want to have a little chat with you. Is that so wrong?" Hawkmoth said.

From the direction of his voice, Ladybug guessed that he was near Adrien's desk, heading slowly in the direction of the bathroom. Ladybug curled up, careful not to make a sound. She froze as she heard Mayura's voice, coming in a similar direction to Hawkmoth's.

"Come on, Adrien. Surely you don't want to betray your father _again_... you do have some heart in you, don't you? Or was it all broken by Ladybug?"

Ladybug: I do need you, I can't do this without you.

"Hmm... Ladybug... she broke your heart, son. I have no idea why you wanted to go to her, rather than your own blood." Hawkmoth muttered.

Ladybug pressed her eyes tightly together, when she was the sofa in front of her eyes become damp with her tears.

Ladybug: Chat please I am so so so sorry.

"They say blood is thicker than water, Adrien." Nathelie piped up.

Relief flooded through Ladybug as she saw the three dots appear, showing he was typing.

Chat Noir: It's okay.

Chat Noir: I am outside. Are you inside?

"It is quite odd how you chose to keep your unhealthy relationship with Ladybug, rather than stay with your family, who love you so, so much." Gabriel continued. "Your mother and I did everything for you... we fed you... clothed you... your mother even let you into our bed when you were scared. Is this how you repay her? By betraying her?"

She heard the footsteps getting closer, and pulled a blanket that had been beneath the sofa onto her, hiding her body.

Ladybug: Yes.

Ladybug: I am on the sofa.

Ladybug: I think Mayura and Hawkmoth are behind me.

Ladybug craned her neck, peering through the blanket.

Ladybug: I can't see them though.

Chat Noir: I think I can see them.

Ladybug looked around, seeing a faint shadow by the window she had come in through. She almost jumped as she heard a foot smash into the ground with anger.

Chat Noir: Are they saying anything?

"Come out, kitty. You con't hide forever and when we get our hands on your traitorous bod-"

"We'll be able to bring your mother back..." Nathalie interrupted. "Wouldn't you like that? She could be here, really here, and give you those hugs you used to like, and kiss your forehead and tell you she loves you... because she does, Adrien... that's why we want to bring her back. For _you_... surely you wouldn't rejecft such a gift..."

Ladybug: Just stuff like come out kitty.

Ladybug: Not important what they're saying.

Ladybug: Can you get inside?

Ladybug gulped, and frowned as she realised that the footsteps, and speaking, had stopped. She closed her yoyo, clutching the picture of Emilie close to her. She listened, but no sound was heard, other than the gasp she produced when Hawkmoth pulled the blanket off of her.

Hawkmoth's face visibly morphed into confusion, before anger. He gripped her hair and picked her up, throwing her to the floor. The picture fell from her hands, and the glass smashed on the floor, covering it with shards.

Mayura came to her and pinned her arms, but Ladybug used her legs to kick her away. She attempted to pick up her yoyo, but it was too far away, beside the broken frame. She reached for it, but by doing so she left her lower half vulnerable. Hawkmoth took his chance and reached over to her earrings, teeth clenching as Ladybug twisted her head. The three jumped as they heard a banging from the window, as the shadow gripped the window tightly and somehow managed to pry it open.

Chat Noir leapt inside, freezing for the briefest moment as he saw what was happening. He snapped out of it and lunged at Hawkmoth, tackling him to the ground at pushing Mayura away. Ladybug stood up with her yoyo swinging in her hand, and engaged with Mayura. From her peripheral vision, she saw Hawkmoth throw Chat Noir off of him.

She ran to catch him, but Mayura grabbed her legs and pinned her to the floor again, narrowing her eyes as Ladybug struggled.

Hawkmoth stepped closer to Chat Noir, and gripped his jaw tightly, his fingers pressing on tiny bruises.

"You had _everything_! You had a _family_ , and they risked their lives for you _every single day_. And you, the ungrateful son who does everything in his power to defy those who know better... you are not _worthy_ of being in this family. Not worthy of having friends, either. They left you, didn't they? It's because they learnt who you _truly_ are. Without a mask." Hawkmoth snarled.

"No! You know it wasn't your fault-" Ladybug said, rolling she and Mayura over so that she could run to him.

She connected her foot with Hawkmoth's face, forcing Hawkmoth to let go of Chat Noir in favour of clutching his face.

"Oh I'm sorry, did that hurt? 'Cause it hurt your son _way_ more when you forced those wretched thoughts into his head. When _you_ betrayed him-" Ladybug all but screamed at him.

" _I_ didn't leave my family and abandon them in favour of doing something else, did I?"

"Yes, you did! You abandoned your son when he needed you! You left him to go save your wife, and I'm sorry Hawkmoth, but she's gone. She's gone and she's not coming back. You've got to accept this and start caring about who is actually here!" Ladybug cried, gesturing to Chat Noir.

"Who? _Him_? Why should I care about him? I did everything for him- I let him go to school, I feed him, clothe him-"

"Oh really? Then why has he been staying with me for the past few days? Why did we have to get him new clothes? Why did he eat at my place?" Ladybug said, her voice lowering as she got more and more angry. "Why does he _enjoy_ being places you're not?"

"Because he has no respect for his elders, that's why-" Mayura attempted to say, before Ladybug sharply interrupted her.

"Respect for his elders? I don't know, why would he have no respect for you people? Yeah, it's not like he was neglected and touch starved and emotionally manipulated and probably emotionally abused too." Ladybug said sarcastically.

"I did _nothing_ wrong in his upbringing. He deserved everything that happened to him-"

"Dammit, Agreste, no, he didn't deserve any of it!"

"He did and you know it, Ladybug. He deserved everything that happened here, with you breaking his heart, everything that had happened at school, with Lila framing him with the gum-"

"You did it..." Chat Noir's quiet voice said from behind Ladybug.

The three others in the room stared at him in complete confusion.

"You were the one who told Lila to do the thing with the chewing gum- that day when we went to the park... you probably told Lila to frame Marinette, too..."

Ladybug glared at Hawkmoth in shock, the anger she was feeling obviously written all over her face. She clenched her fists and refrained from punching Hawkmoth right there.

"Maybe I did, what does it matte-" Hawkmoth burst out, clearly trying to take the blame off of him.

"What does it matter? How can you say that? You set your own son up to get emotionally destroyed at school, after you gave him that stupid letter, too! You betrayed your own blood, not him! You're the traitor!" Ladybug snapped, taking small steps towards him, her fists shaking with rage.

"Am I the one choosing someone who broke my heart over my mother?" Hawkmoth shot back. "No. He is. Family is important, and this wretched boy completely ignored its worth-"

"No! Sure, family is important, but it's not the _most_ important thing at all! Ladybug's stuck with me this entire time, while you, my family, hadn't." Chat Noir rolled his hands into tight fists, restraining from getting physical with his father. "There's so much more than just family, and- and I think it's time you see that."

Hawkmoth's jaw visibly clenched, and the exposed bit of skin beneath his mask turned red with anger.

"Listen here, boy-"

"No, I won't! I'm not going to do whatever you say just because you're family and my father. I'm sick of you controlling my life!"

Ladybug looked between the two, seeing Chat Noir finally let out the emotions he had clearly been bottling up for so long.

Hawkmoth clearly noticed, and decided to change his tactics.

"Son, wouldn't you do the same for your own love, Ladybug?" Hawkmoth asked, turning to Chat Noir as his voice softened.

Chat Noir slowly shook his head in response. "Not if it meant sacrificing another in her place."

The tears dribbled down his cheeks, leaving slight trails behind.

"But that's what love is, son," Hawkmoth murmured, taking slow steps towards him.

"No. That's not what love is." Ladybug interrupted. "And love... what you have with your own son... that's not love either."

Hawkmoth leered at her, then turned back to Chat Noir.

"Are you really going to let her ruin this for you? To ruin love? I love you, son, and your mother does too. Ladybug has no idea what she's talking about-"

"She does. And she's pretty much been there for me all the time, as both Adrien and Chat Noir. Even when she thought I had betrayed her."

"Which he didn't," Ladybug continued from where he left off. "He has the right to choose what side he wants to be on, and he made his decision, just like us. He's not going to join you simply because you're family."

Chat Noir nodded shakily in agreement.

"And family-" he started, "this isn't family. It- it's a lie. And I don't want to live a lie anymore."

He met his father's eyes, green eyes shining.

"For years, years, _my entire life_ , you've made me be who you want me to be, but now-" their eyes locked as Chat Noir grew in confidence. "Now I'm going to do what I want. Not you, or whatever an 'Agreste' would do. 'Cause if being an Agreste means I have to throw my life away, I'm not going to do it."

Hawkmoth curled his lip in anger, seeing no more point in talking. He drew his cane, watching Mayura do the same out of the corner of his eye.

"I think you've already thrown your life away, boy."

Hawkmoth's feet swept of the floor as he ran to Chat Noir, his cane pointed out in a dangerous angle. The sudden lunge caught Chat Noir off-guard and he froze, completely vulnerable to the incoming cane.

Ladybug however, jumped into action.

Throwing herself in front of him the same way he had done so, so, so many times before, she pushed him out of the way. Her leg kicked up in an attempt to defend herself, and when the cane and her ankle met, there was a literally bone-crunching crack.

Hawkmoth's eyes, and everyone else's, widened as they heard it, none of them having experienced any real injury from their lives with miraculouses. 

Ladybug shut her eyes instantly after feeling the blunt but sharp impact, revelling in the brief moment of bliss before the sickening pain overtook her, spreading from her ankle up her leg to her whole body. Her mouth hung open as she fell onto the marble floors, panting heavily as she struggled to contain her reaction.

Chat, on the other hand, made no attempt to contain his reaction.

His jaw fell to the floor in pure shock, eyes widening as his body numbed.

Hawkmoth attempted to retract his arm, and the staff along with it, but Ladybug gritted her teeth and swung it out of his grip, limping as she did so. Chat came back to his senses mere moments later, grasping at the staff as it swung past his face.

Calling upon his Cataclysm, he forced it to crumble to dust in the palm of his hand.

Hawkmoth did not feel the same mini internal victory Ladybug and Chat Noir felt.

He took a step back as Mayura tensed, her guard down.

Sensing that they had a clear opening, Ladybug and Chat Noir moved forward, cornering their enemies. Despite the obviously serious injury to her leg, they had the upper hand. Together, they lunged forward, in sync once again, and tackled Mayura and Hawkmoth to the ground, their miraculouses ripped away.

As they detransformed, Gabriel and Nathalie looked up at the heroes in defeat, scowling as they were restrained.

Chat Noir didn't forget the look on his father's face as the police took him away.

_4 weeks later_

"I... didn't realise... what it was like," Marinette said slowly, her slight limp evident to those who paid close enough attention.

Adrien was silent beside her, sensing she had more to say.

"And I've barely been stuck at home for more than a month because of my foot, while you'd been kept prisoner in your house for your entire life... and I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to properly understand what that's like. But I can feel a tiny bit of what you feel, and... and I'm sorry. I should have realised that, no, I'm not the only one in the world, and everyone else has their own problems and a lot of those problems are worse than mine." She looked up and met his eyes. "I feel like I understand you a lot better now."

She did, she truly did, and it was something that she really couldn't be more grateful for. She offered her hand to is, knowing very well that he needed support just as she did.

He took it, of course, he was the forgiving type.

The two looked up, seeing a purple-tinted butterfly flutter across the blue of the sky. It wasn't an akuma, of course, but their adrenaline levels rose quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there might not be purple-tinted butterflies in Paris guys i dont know but hey lets just go with it


End file.
